134 lUinois State Lahoratonj of Natural History. 



levee. A few half-grown leopard frogs {Rana virescens, Kalm) 

 were taken in the woods under logs, and at the edge? of sloughs- 

 One full grown example was taken at the edge of Claus 

 Lake August 10. A single B. catesbiana, Shaw, was heard 

 within the levee in Bear Creek. The cricket frog ( Acris grulliis, 

 LeConte) was frequently seen at the edges of the water, but 

 was by no means common. Two young toads about half an 

 inch long were taken at the edge of Lily Lake August 7, and 

 another example 1.25 inch long was taken August 15 at the 

 edge of Willow Slough. The former had probably grown 

 from spawn deposited in the water after the late floods. They 

 were found on the side of the bottom next the bluff. It may 

 be that a few adults succeed in avoiding the current on this 

 side and remain here; but they are certainly rare. Not a sin- 

 gle tadpole was noticed in any of the bottom-land sloughs and 

 lakes; but a few small tadpoles of toads were noted in shallow 

 pools of Cedar Creek. All these amphibians were feeding on 

 terrestrial insects, — chiefly beetles belonging to the families 

 Carabidae, Staphylinida?, and Heteroceridie, together "with a 

 small fly, and leaf-hoppers of the family Jassidse. One cricket 

 frog had eaten a single aquatic larva (the Acilius described be- 

 low). There was little difference in the food of the different 

 species from any one locality. Along Cedar Creek a small 

 black fly, which was common on moist sand, was eaten largely. 



FISHES. 



The fishes taken from the sloughs and lakes of the bot- 

 tom-land at <iuincy, may be ])la(ed in three groups: creek 

 fishes, pond or slough fishes, and river fishes. To the creek 

 fishes belong most of the minnows, the sand darters, and the 

 common sucker, — altogether about half as many species as 

 there are in each of the two remaining groups. The individ- 

 uals belonging here were probably less than one per cent, of 

 those taken from the pools. This scarcity was due in some 

 measure to the abundance of predaceous fishes in these waters; 

 but the species of this group taken were mostly sucli as are ordin- 

 arily found common in small creeks, and were probably only 

 stragglers from the great body of individuals which live in 

 such streams. Several of the minnows, however, deserve to be 



