8 Frogs of the Okefinokee Swamp 



for length of hind-limb, and a weight of over two pounds. It is remarkable 

 that so small a snake as the mocassin can swallow a bull-frog whole. Of 

 course the snake is greatly distended by such a meal, and is helpless until it 

 has digested it. 



"The bull-frog is said to eat small fish. I cannot say this of my own 

 knowledge. They feed on slugs, larvae, beetles, flies, spawn, water-insects, 

 and other frogs, for I saw a bull-frog one day pounce upon a grasshopper- 

 frog and swallow it in a twinkling, and one that I killed had a dead grass- 

 hopper-frog in its stomach. I have also found the comminuted elytra of 

 water-beetles in their stomachs, but no scales or other signs of fish. The 

 prey is swallowed with great rapidity — in a flash of time. 



"The colour of the bull-frog is dusky grey, lighter on the sides and limbs, 

 and lighter still on the under parts; but the same tinge throughout. There 

 are some dark spots on the neck and back, and the hind-limbs have leopard- 

 like markings. 



"The grasshopper-frog, referred to above, is very abundant in the swamps. 

 It is the smallest frog in the States, being only an inch and a half in length, 

 and weighing less than an ounce. It is greyish-green in colour, with some 

 brown patches and light stripes on the body, and the legs barred with brown. 

 There are discs to the toes, like those of a tree-frog, but its habits do not seem 

 to be arboreal. On the contrary, I have only found it in stagnant swamps 

 and marshes where there was a thick matting of water-plants. They sit on 

 the floating leaves in great numbers, and are very agile, and they make a 

 piping noise, quite unlike the ordinary croaking of a frog. Thousands of 

 them fall a prey to the storks and other aquatic birds, yet there are myriads 

 of them in the Okefinoke Swamp. 



"In certain parts of the swamp you may see the tadpoles through the 

 water, swarming on the bottom as thickly as the mosquitoes in the air. I 

 suppose these to be chiefly the tadpoles of the grasshopper-frogs ; those of the 

 bull-frogs I could never find. 



"The other two frogs found in these swamps are of species which I could 

 not identify. They are of medium size and dull colour, and there is nothing 

 remarkable in their habits. 



"There are also one or two species of water-lizards — newts apparently. 



"Should we dig in the mud near the centre of the swamp, where there is 

 a sluggish current in the water, it is not improbable that we shall turn up a 

 hellbender, a species of salamander, which is held in utter abhorrence by our 

 friends the shingle-cutters. I heard one of these gentlemen refer to me in 

 the following eulogistic terms : 'Never tell me that that there monkey-crank 

 ain't in league with the devil. Gawd-a-mighty! I seed him strake a hell- 

 bender, and never no hurt come to him.' 



"The hellbender is as harmless as a frog or toad, or any other causelessly 

 persecuted reptile. It is an absolutely water-hunting species, which I have 

 never seen on dry land. It is more abundant in the Mississippi and the great 

 rivers which run into it than elsewhere, and is scarce in swamps, to which it 

 seems to resort to bury itself in the mud to hibernate, and perhaps to breed. 



