Rana a e so pus 349 



This material might be interpreted as 40-52 ist-year-olds; 58-64 2nd-year- 

 olds; 67-76 3rd-year-olds; 79-86 mm. 4th-year-olds; 89-94 sth-year-olds. 



Our material apparently fell into groups as follows: 28-33 ™ni- ^t trans- 

 formation and adult modal groups of 68, 85, 95 and 108 mm. Does it mean 

 four or five different years? The whole material of the U.S. National Museum, 

 American Museum, Boulenger's eleven specimens and our own might be in- 

 terpreted as falling in groups 28-38-(?) mm. at transformation; 38(?)-52 mm. 

 first-year-olds; 52-65 mm. for 2-year-olds; 66-77 mm. 3-year-olds; 78-88 4- 

 year-olds; 89-102 mm. 5-year-olds; 102-108 mm., 6-year-olds. 



FOOD 



The writer has made few direct observations on the feeding habits. 

 Much which has been written has been on captive specimens. Shufeldt ('17, 

 p. 155) asserts that "Gopher frogs feed upon small birds and insects, but most 

 commonly upon toads, the last giving them no end of discomfort on account 

 of the acrid secretions from their parotid glands. Indeed after a meal upon 

 a big toad, this frog has been observed to go through a series of somewhat 

 extraordinary spasmodic movements, frantically trying to clear its mouth 

 with its fore feet of the semi-poisonous juice the batrachian he had endeavored 

 to swallow had squirted into it. So big is the mouth of this gopher frog that 

 it can manage to swallow a full-grown specimen of our common toad — a feat, 

 however, that it in no way appears to enjoy." 



Miss Dickerson holds (p. 196) this frog seems especially fond of toads as 

 an article of diet. It ejects the poison from the mouth as soon as it has swal- 

 lowed the toad. A toad of surprisingly large size can be managed, owing to 

 the unusual development of the jaws and throat of this species. If the toad is 

 too large to be swallowed at once, so that the poison can be sent out through 

 the mouth almost immediately, the frog gives up the attempt and disgorges 

 the toad after about fifteen minutes. This time, however, is sufficient to 

 allow some action of the poison to take place, and the frog shows many signs 

 of discomfort. It has convulsive movements of the muscles, it leaps blindly 

 upward, and finally, lowering the head and opening the cavernous mouth, 

 uses the hands in frantic efforts to remove the irritation from there. During 

 several weeks of captivity, Rana aesopus fed almost wholly upon toads, of the 

 species lentiginosus, woodhousei and fowleri." 



Deckert (1920, p. 26) records that his "specimen is in fine condition and 

 not at all shy, taking meal worms, roaches, and spiders and occasional earth- 

 worms from one's fingers, if not approached too suddenly." 



In 1920, Dr. Thomas Barbour (1920, p. 55) presented before the American 

 Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists notes on this species. His 

 observations on the "dispersal and the habits of feeding on the small oak toad, 

 Bufo quercicus," I did not hear and they are not expanded in the abstract of 

 the proceedings of this meeting. 



ENEMIES 



The gopher turtle's burrow seems to be the permanent or temporary resort 

 of most of the animals of the drier pine barrens. Many smaller forms like the 



