SPECIES-BULLFROG.

Although the batrachian is of the genus _bufo_, he is by no means a
_buffo_ genius. He may be styled the solemn organist of the swamp;
slough music being his specialty. Like other out-door performers on wind
instruments, he is chiefly heard in pleasant weather, and during the
summer his organ is without stops. Being a Democrat, he appreciates the
dignity of labor, and consequently is not ashamed to blow his own
bellows.

Winter shuts the bull-frog up like a four-bladed jack-knife, and he does
not open until the blades are started by the Spring. He seldom leaves
his mud bivouac for active service before April, but a Forward March
sometimes induces him to move earlier. As a rule, however, the smaller
varieties of the species begin to ply their bog-pipes some weeks before
he volunteers a voluntary.

Originally, this member of the Frog family had no surname, but about two
thousand years ago, in consequence of his disastrous failure in an
attempt to rival a male animal of the bovine species, the prefix "bull"
was incorporated with his patronymic by a crooked little Greek. The
name, however, more appropriately belongs to the Horned Frog of Sumatra.

The habits of the Bull-Frog are believed by observant naturalists to be
strictly temperate, although there is a rumor afloat that he has been
seen Over the Bay in New-Jersey. It is suspected, however, that the
originators of the story were persons who visited that State to avoid
the restrictions of the Sunday liquor-law, and consequently saw as
through a glass darkly. Be that as it may, it is certain that this