HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



205 



positing their eggs. These eggs are " attached singly 

 and in small groups, along the grasses resting on the 

 water's surface." Eggs deposited on May 10th are 

 recorded by Miss Hinckley, in the Proceedings of 

 the Boston Natural History Society for 18S0, to have 

 hatched on the 12th, and passed through the tadpole 

 state by July 4th, when the tadpoles were found "at 

 the water's edge, with the tail reduced to a mere 

 stump." 



My own knowledge of these little creatures covers 

 only their arboreal life. I have never seen them 

 except in their high and dry quarters ; not always 

 dry, either, for they love damp hollows, in the angles 

 of the branches, where a little rain lodges. 



The old apple-trees in the lane are sure to be 

 tenanted by several tree-toads, every year ; and the 

 little that I have learned of them, has been by watch- 



over it, and the fretful fellow at once begins to croak. 

 This croak is so very generally regarded as a sign of 

 rain, that it almost invariably calls forth the remark, 

 "It is going to rain," from some one who has 

 happened to hear it. Even the Indians looked upon 

 it in this light, and so did the Swedes in South 

 Jersey. I am sorry, however, to have to say that the 

 toads in the apple-trees have undermined my faith in 

 the "sign," as they have not shown themselves 

 superior in prophetic ability to the man who gravely 

 informs us what the weather will be, when the indi- 

 cations are so plain that even a blind man might 

 detect them. The croaks and the coming rain, so 

 far as my apple-tree toad is concerned, are mere co- 

 incidences — nothing more — as the following observa- 

 tions will show. In 1S80, the tree-toads croaked 

 every day from May 9th to July 12th, inclusive, and 



Fig. 125. — Tne Wood Frog (Rana sylvatica). 



ing those that frequented one locality. This is not 

 recommended as a safe way of studying the habits of 

 animals, as there would be nothing improbable, from 

 what we know of other animals, in tree-toads acting 

 quite differently in different trees. Suppose them, 

 for instance, to be hiding in a cedar or in a weeping- 

 willow, and it is evident that trees so widely different 

 would make it necessary that their movements, when 

 in pursuit of insects, should be quite different. I 

 have not been able to learn how far these animals 

 vary in the choice of their haunts, as I know them 

 only as frequenting the apple-trees. 



As is well known, the tree-toad is nocturnal and 

 crepuscular in its habits. By day, it sits very still 

 in some quiet nook. By sitting still, it must not be 

 supposed that it makes no noise. Far from it. Let 

 a patch of cloud as big as a barn-door cast a shadow 



there were but half-a-dozen wet days, during the 

 sixty-five. The following summer (1SS1) gave the 

 same results ; and during the summer of last year, 

 I obtained similar results from daily observations 

 extending over four months. Throughout the warm 

 weather of 1882, they croaked more or less, every 

 day, hot or cool, sunshine or clouds, and far more at 

 noon-time than either in the early morning or at 

 evening. The supposition that they are particularly 

 noisy at night is wholly inapplicable to my apple- 

 tree toads. Had I never heard anything about these 

 animals, I should have reported them as croaking, 

 not because it was likely to rain, but because it was 

 so dry, that they were suffering for want of moisture. 

 After an unusually hot day, during the early summer, 

 I have noticed that they croak a great deal, when, 

 after sunset, the air becomes damper, seemingly out 



