372 Frogs of the Okefinokee Swamp 



Some of the residents call this species the "Joe Brown" frog because of a 

 fancied resemblance of the grunt to this name. The croak can be heard at a 

 considerable distance and a midnight chorus might be pronounced "loud." 



Mr. Francis Harper describes the note as follows: "Its deep bass note is a 

 rough, guttural, grunting grro, grro, ... It is usually double (as just repre- 

 sented), but sometimes single, and occasionally it runs into a series of from 

 three to ten notes." 



The male frog has "internal vocal sacs" says Boulenger. In this regard 

 it is like Rana damitans and Rana catesbeiana. The green frog inflates its 

 vocal sac more on the sides below the angle of the mouth and less beneath the 

 tips of the lower jaw. On the bullfrog it is one swelling below lower jaw. In 

 the southern bullfrog the inflation is greater than in the other two species. 

 There is one inflation but on either side of the middle is a subsidiary inflation 

 giving the internal sac a tripartite appearance (PI. XXXVII, Fig. 4). These 

 creatures are hard to flashlight at the moment of inflation. The frog is spread 

 out on the surface of the water amongst the water plants. The call is very short. 



Probably Bartram's description is of Rana grijlio when he says that "The 

 largest frog known in Florida and on the sea coast of Carolina, is about eight 

 or nine inches in length from the nose to the extremity of the toes; they are a 

 dusky brown or black colour on the upper side, and their belly or under side 

 white, spotted and clouded with dusky spots of various size and figure; their 

 legs and thighs also are variegated with transverse ringlets of dark brown or 

 black, and are yellow and green about their mouth and lips; they live in wet 

 swamps and marshes, on the shores of large rivers and lakes; their voice is 

 loud and hideous, greatly resembling the grunting of swine (our emphasis), 

 but not near as loud as the voice of the bullfrog of Virginia and Pennsylvania; 

 neither do they arrive to half their size, the bullfrog being frequently eighteen 

 inches in length, and their roaring as loud as that of a bull." 



MATING 



Male {From life, April 25, 1921). Upper parts rich brown with black 

 spots obscured. Tympanum outer circle deep brown, center green or dark 

 green. Top of head dark green. Belly creamy. Throat lemon yellow with 

 dusky fine blotches on underside of fore limbs and hind hmbs. Lower belly 

 blotched or reticulated with cream and brown. On sides of body and legs 

 cream replaced by yellow. First finger of male much enlarged. In another 

 male head deep bottle green. Tympanum center black, middle ring light 

 brown, outer ring brownish black. Throat almost orange yellow on either side 

 of the breast. On either side of breast between arm insertions a deep green 

 area. On rear of femur the yellow extends as a yellow line with brown black 

 on either side of it. This line golden or orange yellow. More intense than 

 yellowish or cream of undersides of legs. In some the black spots of the back 

 are farther apart. Black spots of back surrounded by green and the centers 

 with bronzy brown. Top of toes brown and yellow. Under side of toes brown. 

 In half grown male under color cream slight wash of yellow. Femoral stripe 

 cream not yellow. Ear drum small all brown. Two pectoral patches dusky 

 not green. (Non Ridgway.) 



