RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY, 



69 



(the females are dumb), by means of two 

 slits, each near the angle of the jaw, inflates 

 a loose sac, hing below the transverse mus- 

 cles of the floor of the mouth, and thus re- 

 tains it until a sufficient number of "peeps " 

 have been given to exhaust the supply of 

 air, or until disturbed, when the sac imme- 

 diately disappears. Before thus peeping 

 it has been observed that the frog invari- 

 abU' crawls from the water to some slightly 

 elevated spot. 



By the middle of May or the first of June 

 the breeding season is over with, and the 

 exhausted animals retire to the neighboring 

 woods and gardens to live in silence for a 

 few weeks, but the}' are soon heard again 

 duriug the sultry days of August, now, not 

 from the meadows, but from the trees of the 

 uplands. At this season, however, they 

 are less noisy, and their numbers being scat- 

 tered, they attract but little attention. As 

 they are, with the wood-frog, the first of the 

 Batrachians to appear in spring, so they are 

 the last to retire in the fall, and even in mid- 

 winter a few warm days are sufficient to en- 

 courage their musical powers. While hiber- 

 nating the}' are known to remain under dead 

 leaves. 



Many interesting facts in connection with 

 this animal have been published b}' Mary 

 H. Hinekle}'. The eggs, which differ from 

 those of our other frogs in that the}' are laid 

 singly instead of in strings or groups, in 

 from seven to twelve days after their de- 

 position, give rise to tadpoles. 



When in the water these unfortunate 

 animals are preyed upon by many enemies, 

 of which newts, larger frogs, the larva? of in- 

 sects, birds and smaller mammals are the 

 most destructive. A spider, Dolomedes sex- 

 punctatns, was obsei'ved to walk out on the 

 surface of the water, and dive and secure 

 the helpless tadpoles as if to make of them 

 a regular diet. Long before their tails have 

 become absorbed, to escape the war of ex- 

 termination waged against them, these 

 miniature frogs climb up on the stalks of 

 grass or on floating leaves and there, out of 

 dangers way, await the approach of some 

 unsuspecting mosquito or small fly. 



The extreme small size, pale reddish 

 brown color, suckei-like toes and the cruci- 

 form ornamentation of the back prevent 

 this species from being confounded with any 

 other. 



The Native Trees of Rhode Island. 



BY L. W. RUSSELL. 



No. V. 



Quercus rubra — Red Oak. 



In the previous numbers of this series, 

 the annual-fruited oaks of the state have 

 been treated. In this article, and several 

 subsequent ones, the biennial-fruited group 

 will receive attention. It should be here 

 recalled, that the chief point of separation 

 into these groups is, that of the time re- 

 quired from the blossoming to the ripening 

 of the fruit, — the first perfecting it the 

 first season ; the second, in the autumn of 

 the second year. In the " biennials," the 

 acorns appear hardly larger than a pin's 

 head during the first season, the new growth 

 of the branches shooting out beyond them, 

 so that in the second season, when they 

 begin to grow, they seem to come directly 

 from the branchlets, without the usual pre- 

 paration of blossoms. 



Another noticeable distinction is, that the 

 "annuals" have leaves with lobes or teeth 

 rounded or blunt at their extremities, while 

 the lobes of the "biennials" are all ter- 

 minated by sharp bristly points. The wood 

 of the " annuals" is, as a group, much bet- 

 ter for most purposes of timber than that 

 of the " biennials." 



The Quercus rubra, red oak, gives name, 

 from its abundance and prominent charac- 

 teristics to the group the " red oaks." Q. 

 rubra is not very abundant in Rhode Island ; 

 still, there are scattered trees by the cool 

 banks of the streams, and in the northern 

 part of the state, among the hills, they are 

 occasionally seen in groups. In central 

 New England, and especially in Massachu- 

 setts, they reach their perfection of growtli 

 and beauty. In Providence some tine spec- 

 imens of forest red oaks may be seen near 

 the Blackstone Park brook ; and a well- 

 grown tree, of remarkable beauty and sym- 

 metry, is now standing upon the steep, 

 sloping bank of the river, just below the 

 Merino mill. 



The tree, in full development, forms a 

 magnificent rounded head, with a massive 

 trunk and numerous smooth, clean-looking 



