118 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



The upper and lower jaw yellowish white, spotted with dark brown. 

 The tympanum is bronze, with a dark spot in the center. Arms with 

 black blotches. Legs with transverse bars of the same color continued 

 nearly to the end of the toes. 



Size. — Length of head and body 69 mm.; from tip of snout to axilla 

 25 mm. Femur 40 mm.; tibia 40 mm.; tarsus and fourth toe together 

 54 mm. 



Habitat. — This species is found from New Brunswick 

 west to the central plains, south to Louisiana and Flor- 

 ida. Missouri localities: — Cliff Cave, St. Louis Co., 

 Washington, St. Charles, Jefferson, Cooper, Marion, 

 Montgomery, Crawford, Butler, Stone and Dunklin Coun- 

 ties. 



Habits. — This species prefers cold springs and streams. 

 In Green's Cave, near Sullivan, Crawford Co., I collected 

 one at a place in the cave nearing complete darkness. In 

 small streams it is generally found under slabs of rock 

 partly in the water. Meadows and fields near brooks are 

 the home of the Pickerel Frog. No other frog presents a 

 coat of such brilliant metallic luster as a young Pickerel 

 Frog after being in the bright sunlight for some hours. 

 The young, when in the mud for sometime are so dark 

 that the spots are hardly discernible. The Pickerel Frog 

 has no large external vocal pouches, but the throat, the 

 region back of the eyes and under the ears, as well as the 

 sides, all expand considerably during croaking, which is 

 low and prolonged, resembling somewhat the sound pro- 

 duced by tearing coarse material. The species has a dis- 

 tinctly unpleasant odor, due to a secretion of the skin, 

 for which reason it is not considered edible. It is called 

 Pickerel Frog because of its use to a great extent as bait 

 in pickerel fishing. The irregular egg masses are about 

 two inches in diameter and contain between two and three 

 thousand eggs. These frogs spend a good deal of their 

 time hunting, probably for caterpillars, meadow caddis- 

 flies, butterflies, flies, gnats, and beetles. They are known 

 to feed on snails, small crayfish, and aquatic amphipods 



