228 Kansas Academy of Science. 



number eleven were taken at random, and the contents of their 

 stomachs examined. The following kinds of insects were found : 

 Cincindelidse, ground-beetles, crickets, snapping-beetles, leaf-hop- 

 pers, ants, Belostoma, Lachnost&rna, grasshoppers, tumblebugs, 

 Lampyridse, and carrion beetles. The specimen that had had the 

 largest meal contained sixty beetles, three leaf-hoppers, and three 

 ants. No telling how much would have been eaten in a few more 

 hours, 



Bufo cognaius, a smaller species, colored with a brighter pat- 

 tern, and having diverging occipital crests, has practically the same 

 food habits. The specimens examined contained snout-beetles and 

 dung-beetles. 



Among the tailless batrachians one of the most interesting is the 

 little cricket-frog, Acris gryllus. They abound in swamp streams 

 and roadside pools. They are of a dark color, and many of them 

 are marked on the back by a rusty-red triangle. Out of seven 

 specimens examined from different parts of the state, the following 

 were taken : Ants, a caterpillar, lady-bugs, snapping-beetles, a 

 spider, one small crayfish, and small beetles unidentified. For their 

 size, they eat a fair quantity of insects, and, on account of their 

 number, in some localities, they help considerably in insect de- 

 struction. Several specimens of Hyla versicolor, the common tree- 

 frog, failed to show any evidence of a meal. A specimen collected 

 by Mr. Crevecoeur at Onaga contained one small cricket. It may 

 be that some of these specimens had not had a chance to eat, because 

 they were collected in the spring, before insects were very active. 

 These small frogs live amongst vegetation, and undoubtedly do 

 some good. 



Belonging to the family Hylidse is another rather common frog, 

 the Striped bush-frog, Ghorophilus triseriatus, seldom seen in the 

 summer, but common about pools of water in the spawning season. 

 This is a small frog, about the size of a cricket-frog, and has three 

 prominent stripes running down the back. Four very young speci- 

 mens had eaten, as shown by their stomach contents, algae and ants. 

 Out of four adults collected in the spawning season, two had eaten 

 nothing, while the other two had eaten a spider apiece. These 

 frogs during the summer probably live upon the same kind of food 

 as their kin, the Hyla, because they live in the same habitats. 



The large Green bullfrog {Rana C(Ueshiana) is quite an eater at 

 times. From the stomach of one of these a full-grown sparrow was 

 taken. Young specimens of these species contained remains of 

 water-beetles and ground-beetles. A single specimen of Rana 



