Hyla andersonii 233 



GENERAL HABITS 



Metachrosis. This species is not recorded as capable of a wide range of 

 color variation. Miss Dickerson (1906, p. 133) records that her lone female 

 specimen might pale or deepen in its green or take on a tinge of brown. Noble 

 andNoble(i923,pp.432,433)onthebasisof their experience with four or more 

 pairs and others seen or taken noticed that light, excitement or humidity 

 might change their color. The first and last factors are most analyzable and 

 their results accord in the main with most species. The writer suspects that 

 time will reveal as marked variation in general color in this species as in 

 Hyla cinerea. Hyla andersonii seems truly more constant than Hyla squirella 

 but once upon a time green Hyla squirella were pronounced unknown. Out- 

 right statements concerning color are dangerous. For example two males of 

 Hyla andersonii were received July 21, 1906. Each had a similar green 

 backed livery. One we fixed at once in alcohol. Today it is a shade of dark 

 green. The other was kept until November 27, 1908, when it was fixed in 5% 

 formol. It is now in alcohol and is purplish drab. 



Variations in color. (See Hyla cinerea). 



General habits. Davis (1907, p. 49) writes that "The adult Hyla andersonii 

 is amusingly active at night and jumps about the lower limbs of the trees and 

 on the bushes with much agility. They seem rarely to climb over five or six 

 feet from the ground. They sit upright and look pert, and if interrupted in 

 the midst of their song they leave their bubbles blown up until such a time as 

 the intruder goes away or stands still. In the day time they are usually quiet 

 and for the most part hide in the deep moss and leaves lying on the ground." 



Miss M. C. Dickerson (1906, pp. 132, 133) had this species under observa- 

 tion in captivity and for a long time: 



"The creature has a very gentle and alert expression. It is in fact, one 

 of the most alert and timid of our tree frogs. In captivity it is seldom content 

 until it finds some moist hiding-place in moss and ferns or under wet decaying 

 pieces of wood. When such a place is found, the Hyla backs into it with the 

 burrowing movements common among the Salientia. Here, with flattened 

 body and closed eyes, it remains sleeping away the days and nights. The 

 sleeping position is interesting, in that the long delicately-colored toes are 

 lifted to the green of the sides, the rest pressed close to the body just above 

 the shoulder. 



"This Hyla is relatively sturdy. The tree frog found June i, 1888, was 

 still alive and well in January, 1889. How much longer it lived is not recorded. 

 The specimen caught in September, 1904, is in plump condition now in June, 

 1905. 



"This specimen photographed moulted the skin February loth. For 

 several hours before the moult the skin was very dry and lustreless, and the 

 frog kept rubbing one hand and then the other over the head and eyes, as if 

 in discomfort. The skin was thin and white. It was shed in one piece and 

 swallowed as it was shed, in just the manner described for the similar process 

 for the toad and frog. 



