336 Frogs of the Okefinokee Swamp 



HABITAT 



This species seems to be restricted almost solely to the burrows of the 

 Gopher Turtle {Gopher us polyphemus) which is common in the higher pine 

 barrens and sand hills along the swamp's eastern border. All the turtle burrows 

 might have frogs but these seem to be localized in colonies. Possibly, the 

 breeding habitats (cypress and other ponds) indicate the grouping of these 

 colonies or the animal associates of the gopher turtle may limit or terminate 

 whole or incipient groupings. 



Occasionally the frogs live in other covers than turtle burrows. In one 

 colony near Chesser schoolhouse as we started to walk into the turtle area at 

 6:00 p.m., June 30, 1922, we heard something go into a small opening which 

 looked like a rat hole. The hole extended 18 inches into the ground and the 

 end was only 9-12 inches below the ground. Therein we found a female 

 gopher frog. Near another turtle's burrow we saw a similar hole with a 

 smooth worn spot about 8-12 inches away, the resting place of the frog. This 

 observation the residents have often made and two of them remarked about 

 this worn spot a foot or less from the hole. 



On our previous trips 191 2-192 1, we have never found this species in the 

 Pocket nor on Billy's Island nor on any of the other islands within the swamp. 

 Like subterranean mammals (gophers, moles and shrews) subterranean 

 turtles (gopher turtles) and other subterranean amphibia (spadefoots) it 

 tends to avoid these situations which may be unduly flooded at times, or 

 where a shallow burrow may reach water level. On Chesser Island, where a 

 small narrow tongue of wooded swamp separates it from the mainland we 

 occasionally secure shrews, moles quite frequently, and spadefoots rarely. 

 Are gopher turtles and frogs also there? The gopher turtles occasionally 

 appear but are immediately sought by the inhabitants. 'Though the few 

 Gopher Turtles which reach Chesser's Island are soon killed off by the resi- 

 dents (not only because of damage to the peanut crop but also because their 

 burrows form too safe a retreat for hunted rabbits), the frogs remain, . . . ," 

 (Harper). Whether the frogs come coincident with the gopher turtles, we 

 have not determined, but on July 17, 192 1, we made our only record of the 

 frogs on Chesser Island. About a dozen males were recorded croaking. There- 

 after neither in the summer of 192 1 nor 1922 were they found on this Island 

 where no gopher turtles are allowed, yet they are present as our one record 

 proves. The residents assure us that the frogs betake themselves to rat-like 

 holes, hollow stumps, holes beneath stumps, trees and logs. And I can well 

 believe that this species, were gopher turtles absent, might also resort to cray- 

 fish burrows (Gaige 19 14, p. 4), a retreat for R. areolata, a closely related 

 species. 



Doubtless no other frog proves quite so typical of the higher pine barrens 

 unless it be the oak toad (Bufo quercicus). Occasionally the toad {Bufo 

 terrestris) the spadefoot (Scaphiopus holbrooki) and the swamp cricket frog 

 Pseudacris nigrita may be found in the same plant association. The other 

 animal associates are discussed under the enemies of the gopher frog. 



