Abstract
ALL accounts of the metamorphosis of the common frog leave it to be tacitly inferred that when the front legs make their way through the operculum branchial respiration ceases, and that thenceforth breathing is effected by the lungs, skin, and mucous membrane of the mouth. It appears to have been entirely overlooked that from the time of the acquisition of free front legs until the tail is completely absorbed, and the little anurous frog leaves the water, branchial respiration continues, water being drawn through the nostrils into the mouth, and discharged from the opercular chamber through a pair of crescentic apertures, one on each side immediately anterior to the base of the front leg.
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LATTER, O. An Overlooked Feature in Four-Legged Tadpoles of Rana Temporaria. Nature 111, 151 (1923). https://doi.org/10.1038/111151b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/111151b0
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