Pamula Jean Moore, age 10, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for her question:

How did the bullfrog get his name?

In the courting season, his deep rumbling notes sound somewhat like a roaring boil, or perhaps more like the low bass notes from a big bull fiddle. Certainly his voice helped the bullfrog to earn his name. His size also helped. His bulky body may be eight inches long, plus another two inches when he stretches his back legs. Compared with his kinfolk, he may be called a bull sized frog.

You may be sure that a really big bullfrog is an old timer. Chances are he stayed a tadpole for a couple of years, growing at least six inches long. The big tadpole hibernated in the mud through his first two winters. Then he went through the usual changes and became a smallish frog, perhaps two or three inches long. He spent the next four or five years growing to his proper bullfrog size    and each summer he practiced his proper bullfrog notes.