GLUTTONY IN A FROG.

Patea Mail, Volume IX, Issue 1135, 7 January 1884, Page 3

GLUTTONY IN A FROG.

*— —. A rather interesting incident occurred while I was a sfndont in the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale College. In the Peabody Miueam we had a large wire cage containing nnmerons reptiles, and among these was a frog of nnnsnal size. On one of onr excursions I brought in a number of frogs and other animals, and going to the cage, dropped the contents of the jar, frogs and all, down among the animals at the bottom. The large frog, which had been confined there fer some time, canght one of the small ones before it reached the bottom of the cage, and swallowed it with as great ease as ho wonld have captured a fly. This quickly done, he sat and looked nbcui with an air of satisfaction for a moment, then sprang upon another of medium si»*, canght and swallowed it as quickly as the first. This done, there was another panse of a couple of minutes, and then, with another quick hound, be seined and swallowed a third frog, equal in size to the second. This accomplished, there was another pause of about five minutes, and then another quick, savage bound for a fourth victim, this time for a frog two-thirds the size of himself. Each of the three was seized and swallewed head first, but the fourth effort, was not so successful as the others,.for this enljr.maangei! to get into his month as far as his hind legs, when there was a panse and a struggle. The nnforlnnale frog in (he month of the large one persisted in holding its hind legs out sidewise, at right angles toils body, as if conscious that these tactics would prevent the other from swallowing it; and at the same time the large one, used its front feet, at times one, and again both, lo straighten out the hind legs of his victim so that ho might be able 1 to swallow it ; and while this struggle was going on, be made frequent efforts to nsc the sides and bottom of his cage as an object against which to press the other frog, so as lo aid his efforts to swallow It. The struggle, however, after lasting a nnmber of minntes, terminated in fa von r of the smaller frog, for by desperate efforts it managed to elude the grasp of its assailant; but while the battle did last, it nsed both its mnscnlnr and vocal powers to their Utmost to thwart the nmrdcrons designs of its enemy. B F Koons in American Naturalist.