Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/515

 FROG 503 ralized citizen of Switzerland, he joined the extreme radical party, and edited the " Swiss Republican." He also founded a publishing house, and in 1844 relinquished his professor- ship. He issued several scientific works and political pamphlets ; but many of them were suppressed in Germany. Having returned to Germany, he was expelled from the Prussian territory, and went to Dresden. In 1848 he became a popular leader of the democratic par- ty and a member of the German parliament at Frankfort. Accompanying Robert Blum to Vienna, he was arrested, and sentenced to death by the same court martial which sen- tenced Blum, but was pardoned. On the dis- solution of the parliament he repaired to Switz- erland, and afterward to the United States. He was editor of a German newspaper, and lectured in New York, went in 1850 to Ni- caragua, and afterward to Santa Fe and Chi- huahua. During this period he was a frequent correspondent of the "New York Tribune." In 1855 he edited a journal at San Francisco. In 185V, after his return to Germany, attempts were made to expel him from Frankfort, the American consul protesting upon the ground that he had become a naturalized citizen of the United States. After residing some time in London, he went to Vienna in 1862 to become editor of the journal representing the liberal cabinet then in power. From this time he again took an active part in German politics as one of the leaders of the Gross- Deutsche or federalistic party. After the fall of the cabi- net he went to Stuttgart, and in 186V to Mu- nich, where he established the Suddeutsche Post. Among his works are : System der so- cialen Politik (2 vols., Mannheim, 184V) ; Die Republikaner, a historical drama (Leipsic, 1848) ; Aus Amerika, Erfahrungen, Eeisen und Studien (2 vols., Leipsic, 1858 ; English translation, u Seven Years 1 Travel in Central America, Northern Mexico, and the Far West of the United States," London, 1859) ; Theorie der Politik (2 vols., Vienna, 1861); "Kleine politische ScJiriften (2 vols., Stuttgart, 1866); and Die WirtJischaft des MenschengescJilechts auf dem Standpunlcte der Einheit idealer und realer Interessen (Leipsic, 18VO). In 18V3 he was appointed consul of the German empire at Smyrna, Asia Minor. FROG, a batrachian reptile of the anourous or tailless order, embracing the group phanero- glosses (Dum. and Bib.), with the families rani- da or common frogs, and hyladce or tree frogs. The general characters of the class and of the order have been sufficiently given in the article AMPHIBIA, so that the principal families, gene- ra, and species will only be mentioned here. The family of frogs or ranidm include those genera the free extremities of whose fingers and toes are not dilated into disks, and whose upper jaw is provided with teeth; among these are many whose thick and clumsy bodies resemble those of toads (bufonidcK) rather than of frogs ; in addition to maxillary teeth, most have also teeth on the palate and vomer, whose groupings, together with the form of the tongue and the visibility of the tympanum, are charac- ters distinctive of genera and species. Almost all have, in the males, the vocal vesicles in the throat, communicating with the mouth, by the entrance of air into which their remarkable and loud sounds are produced; the nostrils open laterally, near the end of the snout ; they have four non-palmated fingers, with the rudi- ment of a thumb, and five webbed toes ; the back is generally irregularly roughened by glandular and other eminences, while the under surface is smooth. Frogs pass most of their time in the water, being excellent swimmers; the length of their hind limbs enables them to make considerable leaps, and to travel over land in this way long distances in search of water; they are unable to climb trees, like the family JiyladcB or tree frogs. Some species prefer moist localities and damp woods, where they hide in the grass and under leaves; others dwell in subterranean hollows which they dig on the borders of marshes, coming forth at evening or on rainy days. All the species when adult are decidedly carnivorous, even the smaller eating mollusks, insects, and worms, and all are characterized by great voracity. The frog family is found throughout the globe, though most abundantly in America ; indeed five of the eight genera admitted by Dume>il and Bibron are peculiar to the new world ; after America come Asia, Europe, Africa, and Polynesia, in the order of abundance of species. Of the numerous genera described, the genus rana (Linn.), which includes the common frogs, is the best known and the most interesting. The principal characters of the skeleton of the frog are the small number of vertebrae, the ab- sence of true ribs, the development of the trans- verse processes of the sacrum, the mobility of the iliac bones, the length of the coccyx, the presence of occipital condyles and an arch of scapular bones constituting a shoulder, and the elongation of the bones of the lower extremi- ties. The muscles of the thigh and leg resem- ble considerably those of man and mammals. When a frog is at rest, the articulations of the pelvis, thigh, leg, and foot form four great folds or levers, by the sudden opening of which at the same time its remarkable leaps are effected ; the swimming of the frog, which has errone- ously been taken as a model for man in this respect, consists in a series of horizontal leaps, the body being sustained by the water, and its general form offering little resistance, and the anterior limbs being folded against the trunk instead of acting as aids to the legs in locomo- tion ; walking of course must be difficult and slow where there is such disparity in the length of the arms and legs. The skin is smooth, made up of the usual layers, and in many parts of the body separated from the muscles to su an extent that it may be considerably distended at the will of the animal; the thin epidermis is frequently renewed; in the pigment layer