"Poor little thing," she added, "he sits quiet enough," and then she thought she would venture to stroke him. But Mr. Frog was not used to these little attentions, and he leaped away.
She gave a shudder as her hand touched his cold, clammy body. In fact she had hardly got over her fright when Fred came back again with him in hishand. He told her that the frog"s skin is always cold,and covered with a slimy fluid.
If a frog were put into a dry place, the skin would quickly shrink and become stiff, and the animal would die. The skin is very porous, and absorbs water like a sponge.
"Now," he added, "I think I had better tell you about the frog and his food. If we could see inside his mouth, we should find that the upper jaw contains a row of sharp pointed teeth, and there are no teeth in the lower jaw.
"But the tongue is more wonderful than the teeth. Instead of springing from the back of the mouth, as the tongues of most animals do, his tongue has its root in front, and points backward towards the throat. He can when he wishes throw the tongue forward a long way beyond the mouth.
