Frogs

THIS work is full of the spirit of true Nature Study. The feeling of spring is in the pages that recount the author's visits to the haunts of the peepers, along the soggy margin of the pond, when the pussy willows bloom, and the nip of winter is still in the air. Miss Dickerson has put her own experiences into this book. She found the frogs and toads, the salamanders and peepers in increasingly interesting, the more she studied them in their natural surroundings. The reader is constantly tempted to close the book and go out and make the acquaintance of the creatures themselves. The book thus fulfils the highest aim of its author.

The plan of the book is orderly and scientific. The group, once called Amphibians, now Batrachians, comprises few families and few species. The introduction is an admirable review of the group in its relation to fishes and reptiles. The remarkable metamorphosis that marks the development of frogs and toads is fully dwelt upon, and general subjects, like colour changes of skin, hibernation and behaviour, are discussed in the first chapter. A key to the families of each order is followed by descriptions covering the different species, with observations so interestingly reported as to prove as fascinating as they are informing.

The illustrations are all from photographs taken from life by the author. A bibliography of the literature on Batrachia is appended.