162 BULLETIN 160, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



side of a cluster of trees this sound grew into a roar, like that of steam escaping 

 from many engines, mingled with the sharp and piercing scream of saws. It 

 came from a meadow containing a shallow pool of rainwater. In the wet grass, 

 on its stalks, and on the ground, hopped about hundreds of large green tree-frogs; 

 nearer the pool they were to be seen in thousands, and in the water itself there were 

 tens of thousands. Hopping, jumping, crawling, shding, getting hold of each 

 other, or sitting still. Most of them were in amplexus, and these couples were 

 quiet, but the solitary males sat on their haunches and barked solemnly, with 

 their resounding vocal bags protruding. Every now and then one was making 

 for a mate, and often there were three or four hanging on to each other and rolling 

 over. The din was so great that it was with difficulty that we caught the remarks 

 that we shouted, although we were standing onlj' a few feet apart. Each sweep 

 of a butterfly net caught at least half-a-dozen frogs. 



Now the grassy pool, where the frogs were closest, was about 30 yards square 

 (900 square yards), rather more than the area of a tennis lawn, and each square 

 yard held from 50 to 100 frogs — many square yards certainly held several hundreds 

 each. At the very lowest computation this gives 45,000 frogs; and there was, 

 besides, an outer ring of some five hundred square yards where frogs were fairly 

 numerous, say from 5 to 10 to the square yard, mostly spent females, but these 

 few thousands we may leave out of the reckoning, to understate rather than over- 

 estimate the number. Supposing there were onh^ 20,000 females, each spawning 

 from 5,000 to 10,000 eggs — say only 5,000 — the total would amount to just 100, 

 000,000 eggs. The spawn literally covered both ground and water thickly. But 

 the greatest surprise awaited us on the following morning, when we went to photo- 

 graph the scene. There was not a single frog left; the water had all evaporated, 

 and the whole place was glazed over with dried-up spawn! The prospective 

 chance of millions of little frogs was gone, their expectant parents having been 

 deceived in calculating their day of incarnation. That was on the 4th of July, 

 several weeks after the beginning of the rather fitful rainy season. 



Specimens examined. — Eighty-four, as follows : 



Hyla haudinii 



Museam 



A.M.N.H... 



U.S.N.M.... 



Do. 



Do.... 

 C.O.E.M. 

 N.M.W... 



U.S.N.M.. 



Do. 



Do 



M.O.Z 



U.S.N.M 



C.A.S 



Do 



U.S.N.M 



F.M.N.H..-. 



U.S.N.M 



M.C.Z 



U.S.N.M. 



N.M.W. . 



Do... 



Locality collected 



Sinaloa: 

 North of Mazatlan. 

 Plumosas... 



Nayaeit: San Bias 



Vera Cruz: 



Cordoba 



Jicaltepec 



La Raya, close to Rio Tonto. 

 Mirador, hills west of Vera 

 Cruz. 



Vicinity of Orizaba 



Pasode Telaya, Jicaltepec... 



Potrero 



Potrero, near Cordoba 



Tezonapa 



do 



Jalisco: Guadalajara 



Colima: 

 Colima 



do 



Federal District: Santa Fe, 



near Mexico City. 

 Guerrero: 



Acapulco 



San Luis Allende 



Tierra Colorado. 



Date collected 



Nov. 23, 1919 

 July 19,1897 

 /Dec. 20,1913 

 \Dec. 25,1913 



Apr. 1, 1921 

 Aug. — , 1921 



Aug. 3, 1925 

 Aug. 4, 1925 



July 15,1902 

 1921 



Jan. 8, 1895 



By whom collected or 

 from whom received 



Paul D. R. Ruthling. 

 Nelson and Goldman. 



[j. C. Thompson. 



Francis Sumichrast. 



Mateo Trujillo. 

 Carlos Sartorius. 



Francis Sumichrast. 

 T. Townsend. 

 E. R. Dunn. 

 Francis Sumichrast. 

 Joseph R. Slevin. 



Do. 

 J. J. Major. 



C. H. T. Townsend. 

 Julius Hurler. 

 E. R. Dunn. 



Nelson and Goldman. 

 Hans Gadow. 

 Do. 



• Type of Ilyla muricolor. 



