Even those who know frog-spawn when they see it and something of the history of the growth of the tadpole and its change into the young frog or toad (as the case may be) do not, as a rule, know about the laying of the eggs. In the early spring (end of March) the full-grown frogs and toads which have passed the winter buried in holes and cracks in the ground in a state of torpor wake up and make their way to neighbouring good-sized ponds. In these the eggs are deposited. The male frogs wait for the females whom they seize from behind, placing their arms under hers and round the chest. They hold so firmly that nothing will persuade them to let go. They often retain their hold for days or even weeks. Sometimes by mistake they seize a fish and hold on securely to its head—a fact which has led to the belief among country-folk that the frog is an enemy of the carp, and tries to blind him by forcing his hands into the carp’s eyes. At this season a frog will clasp your finger or the handle of a stick so persistently that you can lift him out of the water. A large pad of a black colour grows in the breeding-season on the inside of the first finger of the frog’s hand, and is richly supplied with nerves. It is this growth which is sensitive and when touched sets up the cramp-like clasping action of the muscles of the arms. The eggs are eventually squeezed from the female’s body, and are fertilised by the spermatic fluid of the male as they pass into the water. They are, when “laid,” covered with only a thin transparent layer of albumen (or white of egg), and it is only after a few hours that this imbibes water and swells up into a ball-like mass around each little black egg.