168 
that he did not see in hiding in each pool, 
while here in the group all are brought 
out into plain view. Moreover, while 
your memory may tell you that you 
have seen just such a pool many times 
in the woods, as a matter of fact you 
have seen no such pool, for Nature, in 
her grand, haphazard way, has no place 
for Art in her small canvases; she 
shows a detail here and a detail there, 
but to assemble a complete scene that 
will lead the eye hither and yon accord- 
ing to the prearranged purposes of the 
artist, requires a skillful staging of the 
scene, using only legitimate natural 
“properties,” and this Miss Dickerson 
has most ably done for us. 
Describing the groups more in detail, 
the May scene, representing specifically 
the life histories of our various species of 
toads, frogs and tree frogs, assembles 
all of them under the banner of early 
spring. <A stray wild apple tree on the 
right, with its abundant pink-and-white 
blooms; a tall blueberry in full blossom; 
various familiar vines and shrubs just 
coming into leaf; young hornbeam sap- 
lings, and a couple of sturdy oaks and 
red maples, proclaim a water scene in 
mid-May, and set the stage for the 
amphibian life that we can expect to see 
at that time. The eye further notes 
cowslips, violets, trillums, jacks, dog- 
tooths and anemones as the plants in 
blossom, while the curls of unfurling 
ferns tell us yet again that spring is here. 
The hylas or “tree-toads” are out in 
force; everywhere in the natural places 
for them one espies them out, while 
attached to crimson spikes of water- 
plant down in the still, clear depths of 
the pool are their clusters of pearl-like 
eges, for this is their breeding season. 
Various kinds of frogs and toads occupy 
important positions on the right and on 
the left of the case; down in the water 
are the egg masses just laid, and hatching 
