8/8 RuKAL School Leaflet 



The Frog. — The kinds of frogs of New York State are five in number, 

 smooth and moist of skin, and have no disks on their fingers or toes. 



The most abundant form is the leopard frog, whose upper parts may- 

 vary from bronze to bright green, with irregular scattered spots. Its 

 under parts are white. It comes out of hibernation the last of March or 

 the first of April. Almost immediately it migrates to swampy localities, 

 where the eggs are laid in flattened, submerged, jelly masses (3,500 to 

 4,500 eggs in a mass). These hatch in ten to twenty days, and ninety 

 days after the eggs are laid — that is, in the middle of July — the tadpoles 

 lose their tails, assume legs, and change to the adult form. 



The pickerel frog resembles the bronze-colored leopard frog, except that 

 the spots are square and the under parts of the legs and belly are orange 

 yellow. It appears in the spring about the middle of April. The eggs 

 are deposited in globular submerged masses (2,000 to 3,000 eggs in a mass). 

 The individual eggs have a decided yellow color. The tadpoles transform 

 during the last days of July, about ninety to one hundred days after the 

 eggs are laid. 



The wood frog is the smallest of the five. In color it is either light or 

 reddish brown above, with a darker brown streak or mask on either side 

 of the head. Underneath it is a glistening white. It appears in early 

 spring — the last of March or first of April — im.mediately begins to lay 

 globular submerged masses of eggs (2,000 to 3,000 eggs in a mass), and 

 hastens away to the woods again. The eggs hatch in twelve to twenty-four 

 days. The tadpoles transform about ninety days after the eggs are laid. 



The green frog is slightly larger than the leopard frog. The forward 

 upper parts are bright green, the posterior region brown or olive. The 

 ear plate, or tympanum, is as large as the eye — in the male, larger. 

 The under parts are white, with some marblings; in the male the throat 

 is yellow. The green frog appears in the middle of April and begins 

 spawning in the last of May. The spawning may extend into August. 

 The egg mass (3,500 to 4,500 eggs) is laid among vegetation and is one 

 flat, continuous film, less than one foot in diameter, on the surface of the 

 water. The eggs hatch in four days. In July of the next year the tad- 

 poles change to adults. 



The bullfrog is much larger than the green frog, but has not the two ridges 

 down its back. It appears from hibernation about the middle of May. 

 The eggs are laid from June i to August. They are deposited in a frothy 

 film which floats on the water among brush or near the roots of upturned 

 stumps. The film is over a foot in diameter. The tadpoles live as such 

 for two years before they change in July to the adult form. 



"7 know of no other animal capable of giving forth so much sound in proportion to its 

 size as a frog." 



JOHN BURROUGHS 



