Rana virgatipes 439 



cate that late April was the height of the nuptial season. The males are pro- 

 vided with distensible vocal vesicles, and when about to utter their call these 

 sacs are inflated like httle bladders till nearly spherical, and then by degrees 

 the air is allowed to escape. This gives the sac the appearance of collapsing 

 by a series of jerks. As it is done quickly, each jerk at an interval of a second, 

 the result is a sort of a rapping sound. These raps or jerks are about five or 

 six in number. The sound produced is peculiar in that it is difficult at times 

 to detect its source, and if the frog is close is quite startling. This is due 

 not only to the suddenness, but also to the volume of the sound. On one occa- 

 sion an example which I captured has his vocal vesicles well inflated, and 

 though they partly collapsed as I held him in my hand he did not utter any 

 sound. The call bears considerable resemblance to the sound produced by 

 wood choppers cutting trees a short distance back in the forest, and is different 

 from the cry of any other batrachian, so that when first heard I suspected it 

 was produced by this species." 



"Mr. J. A. G. Rehn informs me he heard this frog at Cedar Grove, on the 

 Oswego River, or the east branch of the Wading River, and also at Speedwell 

 during June of 1905. A description of the cluck of a frog, which may possibly 

 have been this species, was given to me by Mr. G. L. Hartman of Palermo, 

 Cape May County, who says that the frogs are common about the Cedar 

 Swamp Creek region. Although diligently searched for in all suitable locali- 

 ties I failed to discover any. Mr. Chreswell J. Hunt informs me that he noted 

 this frog while camping on the dam of the Rancocas Creek at New Lisbon, in 

 Burhngton County, on the night of May 15, 1906. During all the evening its 

 voice was the sound most in evidence. It was also abundant at the dam at 

 Brown Mills on May i6th. About the shores at the head of these ponds were 

 masses of sphagnum and in these spots the frogs seemed to abound. Although 

 unsuccessful in securing specimens, he feels certain of the identity of the species 

 as the croak was so different from that of any other with which he was familiar. 

 He also states that he did not hear it anywhere along the Rancocas below 

 New Lisbon, which is well among the pines. During the past summer he 

 heard it at Whiting. On May 30, 1907, Mr. Percy Lorrilhere reports he heard 

 this frog at Dennisville in Cape May County." Again in 1907 Fowler (1908, 

 p. 194) gives us the following: "Rana virgatipes Cope — Sphagnum Frog. The 

 clack, clack, clack, clack, clack of this frog could be heard about the Rancocas 

 Creek above New Lisbon, in Burhngton County, on May 12th, 1907. It 

 occurred at intervals, interrupting the stillness of a backward spring. Though 

 loud and not often uttered, in comparison with those found at Mare Run, their 

 croaking could be heard at quite a distance. Sometimes the animals must 

 have been quite close, for we could hear them when but a few feet away with- 

 out seeing them. It may have been that the weather was too cold, for their 

 croaking was always located as coming from among the submerged and over- 

 grown vegetation along the banks. In such places the temperature was con- 

 siderably higher by mid-day than elsewhere. When Mr. Hunt visited this 

 place just a year previously, the frogs were very numerous. The weather at 

 that time, however, though about the same time in May, was much warmer. 



