Acris gryllus 177 



"After supper Mimz (Professor P. A. Munz, Pomona College) and I went 

 out for frogs. ... In the Acris pool, long shallow, 1-4 inches deep 

 (J uncus plentiful) we found plenty of Acris. After about one hour's collecting 

 we found a mated pair in the water. The embrace is axillary .... Didn't 

 find any of the eggs. The pond is a surface pond with trees on all sides but 

 the east. . . . About 11:00 p. m. returned. Put extra males and female 

 Acris in one compartment and started to put the pair in another part when we 

 lost the female of the pair. A severe storm came up. Later Munz and I went 

 out again. Soon found another pair. After capture they broke but soon 

 resumed. When we put them in the can they separated. In the morning ( June 

 2) no eggs from Acris. Munz and I went to the Acris pond and found the 

 eggs." (See egg mass description). The mated pair never laid but three days 

 after, June 4, 191 7, one of the females laid eggs. These were our first identi- 

 fications of Acris eggs in the field. 



Amplexation. Normally Acris embraces are as in the Hylidae in general, 

 i.e., axillary amplexation. The Acris pairs taken at Dinwiddle, Va., in 191 7 

 were all axillary in type. On Apr. 25, 192 1, a pair captured on a lily pad "was 

 found in axillary fashion. When I put them into a bottle they broke. At 

 camp they were mated axillary fashion. Then put them into a compartment 

 of the fish can. The male then held the female with his forelimbs ahead of 

 the forelimbs of the female and the hand of each forefimb came on to the 

 pectoral region." The amplexation of all four pairs of Acris found the 

 evening of May 14, 192 1, were axillary with no departures. So also were the 

 two pairs of May 26, the two pairs of June 3, and the pair of June 25, 192 1. 



OVULATION 



Habitat. Abbott suggests blades of coarse grass. This expands in Sher- 

 wood to grass and weeds and in Ditmars to grass and reeds. John K. Strecker 

 Jr., (19 10, p. 80) places the "breeding locahties" as "ponds and small streams." 

 In 1906 Miss Dickerson (p. 156) has the eggs "attached to grass blades or 

 leaves in the water." 



In 192 1 we took mated pairs in the open area of cypress ponds, in amongst 

 the cypress of the edge of cypress ponds and bays, in cypress bays or glades, 

 on sphagnum strands on prairies, in wooded streams or branches, and rarely 

 in moist pine barrens. The open cypress ponds and prairies were the optimum 

 habitats for ovulation. 



Period. Abbott (1882, p. 707) gave this period as about May i. Hay 

 writes "Numerous specimens were found at Irvington on the 8th of March. 

 The eggs are probably laid about this time, although I do not know anything 

 about them." Brimley (1896, p. 501) says "This species (in North Carohna) 

 breeds from April through most of the summer." Doubtless W. L. Sherwood 

 (1898, p. 19) is following Abbott when he says "The eggs are laid early in May, 

 in small bunches attached to grass or weeds. Development is prolonged." 

 Following Abbott and Sherwood, Ditmars (1905, p. 193) writes "The eggs 

 are deposited early in May in small bunches. They usually adhere to grass 

 and reeds." 



