author's abstract of this paper issaED 



BY THE BIBLIOGRAPHIC SERVICE, FEBRUARY 2 



THE ROLE OF VOICE AND COLORATION IN SPRING 

 MIGRATION AND SEX RECOGNITION IN FROGS^ 



HAROLD CUMMINS 



Tulane University Medical School 



While the habits of frogs have been described by numerous 

 writers, but little emphasis has been accorded the important 

 phases of migration into the ponds for breeding and the method 

 of sex recognition. Following the suggestions of Prof. Jacob 

 Reighard, the writer carried out in the spring of 1914 a series 

 of observations devoted to these aspects of the breeding 

 behavior. 



Work was conducted in White's Wood, near Ann Arbor, 

 Michigan, a hardwood tract containing five small ponds, one 

 of which was selected for intensive study. This pond is bounded 

 on one side and one end by wooded land and elsewhere by a 

 cultivated field which adjoins the wood. During the high water 

 of spring the pond is about 320 feet long, with an average width 

 of 35 feet and a maximum depth of about 3 feet. Apparatus and 

 camp supplies were installed on March 23rd; the writer remained 

 at the pond until May 10th. 



Sex-recognition observations were made upon frogs both in 

 the pond and in terraria. Data on migration, except for a few 

 instances mentioned later, were obtained from the catch of a 

 frog trap. The trap consisted of a 14-inch white-cloth fence 

 supported by wooden stakes which made an angle of 135° with 

 the earth on the inner or pondward side. The fence was 

 placed about two feet from the edge of the water and extended 

 more than two-thirds around the pond, on the side bordered by 

 the wood and on the end and side next to the field. At intervals 

 leaders of similar construction, but vertically supported, were 



* Contribution from the Zoological Laboratory of the University of Michigan. 



325 



