Page:The Book of the Aquarium and Water Cabinet.djvu/156

144 placed, as it were, on the breast. They are not wholly herbivorous; for though they nibble the fronds of Riccia and threads of Conferva, they do not scruple to eat their dead kindred, and half a dozen may be seen engaged upon the carcase of a defunct brother. In this stage the gills form a fine microscopic object. As the increases in bulk, the hinder part of the body swells, and at last the budding of the hind legs may be distinctly seen. These at last acquire some degree of completeness, and then the other pair of legs sprout in a similar manner, and the tail begins to shrink rapidly as the general bulk of the reptile increases. The gills now rapidly disappear and the body grows at the expense of the tail, and before the latter appendage is completely extinguished, the juvenile Ranus takes his first dose of atmospheric air, by mounting a leaf of frog-bit or a slice of cork. He now leads an amphibious life, and at last quits the water altogether, climbs up the glass side of the tank or jar, and escapes,