92 Frogs of the Okefinokee Swamp 



The males in ardor are the equal of any toad. The tumbles and turmoils 

 are just as numerous as in a toad congress. 



Amplexation (Normal, abnormal, cross). Brimley (1896, p. 501) in ob- 

 serving fifty breeding frogs writes that "In every case the grasp of the male 

 was inguinal." Richard Deckert's Fig. i in Overton's Long Island Frogs and 

 Toads portrays an inguinal embrace, in all three pairs pictured. In 1920 

 (p. 22) we say that "The male seizes the female just ahead of the hind legs 

 (inguinal fashion), a form of embrace not known in any other American form 

 except in the narrow-mouthed toads . . . ." How the last slip on narrow- 

 mouthed toads happened is beyond us now. Gastrophryne texense and Gas- 

 trophryne carolinensis embrace axillary fashion. 



Normally a male embraces in inguinal fashion. In the five or six ponds 

 we saw no other fashion for ovulating pairs. Even when fertilizing the eggs 

 the male keeps the inguinal fashion but he draws up his vent near that of the 

 female. A male of a mated pair can be taken away and another substituted. 

 Almost invariably the second instantly remains on the female. Often one 

 will see a male rush for another male or for a mated pair. Occasionally one 

 sees a female with a mated male and another male atop the mating one. 

 When spade-foots are actually ovulating the male usually closes his eyes. 



Several abnormal embraces were observed. These are usually preliminary 

 and not of ovulation period. One female was held by a male which had its 

 left arm above and behind the foreleg of the female and male's right arm was 

 just ahead of the right hind leg. Another male held her from below, his left 

 arm behind her right arm and his right arm around her left side of waist. At 

 times both of his arms were just in front of the hind legs. 



In the ponds were narrow-mouthed toads {Gastrophryne) pine woods tree 

 frogs ( Hyla femoralis) cricket-frogs (Acris gryllus) and Florida tree frogs ( Hyla 

 gratiosa) breeding in great profusion. None were large enough for cross 

 embraces except with the last. In one pond we found a male spadefoot 62 

 mm. long embracing a ripe female Hyla gratiosa 58 mm. long. In the ponds 

 were several normal Hyla gratiosa pairs. 



OVULATION 



Habitat. The congress of ovulation we found Aug. 16 and 17, 1928 in 

 cut over pine barrens in shallow depressions the water in one pond being i- 

 I 1/2 inches deep, in several 4-6 inches, in another 6-8 inches, and in a last 

 pond 12-18 inches deep. The pools were in what might be called moist pine 

 barrens or it might be an old field, a cypress pond not being far away. One 

 pond was a depression in a wood road. Considerable of Rhexia, Hypericum, 

 sedges and grasses were in the five or six ponds. In the ponds were numerous 

 Acris gryllus, Gastrophryne carolinensis, Hyla femoralis and Hyla gratiosa 

 breeding. All in all the pools were indeed very temporary. 



Period. In South Carolina Holbrook (1842, p. 1 1 1) found that 'Tt appears 

 early in March, after the first heavy rains of spring, and at once seeks its 

 mate." 



