The Spring Peeper 



seeds and the violets have long- 

 stemmed leaves and flowers strug- 

 ling for light through surrounding 

 rank growths of fern, hellebore, 

 and skunk-cabbage. 



The season of their chorus 

 closes at about the time that the 

 Common Tree Frog chorus begins. 

 Sometimes for two weeks or more 

 we may hear their voices together 

 from the same or adjacent 

 swamps. 



The season of the chorus be- 

 gins in February or March; not 

 many of the eggs are laid ^ until 

 April. The eggs are generally 

 fastened singly to plants in the 

 water, although they sometimes 

 lie free at the bottom, and are 

 sometimes in small masses (4 to 

 10). They may be laid singly or 

 in small groups by frogs in cap- 

 tivity. They are exceedingly small 

 (1-12 inch in diameter), so small 

 that they look like tiny plant seeds. 

 Each is surrounded by a viscid 

 substance and a distinct outer 

 membrane. The egg is deep brown 

 above and cream-white below 

 when first laid, but becomes light 

 grey in the early stages of de- 

 velopment. 



1 May IS, 1892. Hyla pickeringii. O. P. 

 Hay, Irvington, Ind. 



April 6, April 17. Hyla pickeringii. F. W. 

 Putnam, Cambridge, Mass. 



April 25, 1904. Hyla pickeringii. M. C. 

 Dickerson, Providence, R.I. 



March g, lo, 13, and April s, 1890. 

 pickeringii. T. H. Morgan, Baltimore, Md. 



Hyla 



145 



The chorus of Spring Peepers begins 

 when the blue violets of the marsh are 

 fiist opening, and closes when these 

 violets are struggling for light among 

 rank growths of fern and hellebore. 



