512 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INDIANA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



The Swamp Tree-frog has a second season of song in autumn. This is 

 usually sung by individuals rather than in chorus, and the singers are fre- 

 quently found some distance from the water, anywhere in damp situations. 

 They are quite frequently heard in low copses or in cornfields on damp days 

 in autumn, and one was known to have its abode in a damp cellar a good 

 distance from any pond. One example found in autumn in a cornfield was 

 quite plump, and was found to be full of well developed eggs. As these frogs 

 are dormant during the winter, it is probable that the ova reach their full 

 development in autumn, and that the brooding instinct developed by this time 

 is held in abeyance until spring, when the frog wakes and recommences the 

 song begun the autumn before. 



During the autumn of 1900, this frog was heard singing at the edge of the 

 lake from October 28 to November 20. 



These frogs can usually be seen better during the autumn than any other 

 time. They are then to be found on the ground in damp situations and are 

 somewhat sluggish and inactive. They are quite handsome and elegant in 

 appearance. 



These little frogs often fall a prey to the large-mouth black bass and pick- 

 erel and are sometimes used for bait by anglers. 



Fingers and toes ending in small disks; fingers not webbed, toes scarcely so. 

 Tympanum distinct. Bluish ash, a dark dorsal stripe from snout backward, 

 bifurcating above middle of bodj'; a stripe on each side of this and one on 

 side of head and body, the latter pale-edged below. Length 1 inch. 



12. Ilyla versicolor Le Conte. 

 Common Tree-Toad. 



The Tree-toad is generally common throughout the United States east of 

 Kansas. At Lake Maxinkuckee it is frequently heard in the evenings or in 

 damp weather preceding a rain. Verj^ few examples were seen, however, 

 and it does not appear to be abundant. One was taken August 6; on Septem- 

 ber 13 one was found on the rushes near Lakeview Hotel. It was dark blue- 

 green in color, simulating the rushes on which it was found. Three examples 

 were obtained near the lake July 8. The first one heard in 1901 was on April 

 29 and the species continued trilling through the summer. In 1900, 2 ex- 

 amples were seen, both of the usual gray color it assumes when resting on 

 bark. 



One of the favorite haunts ot the Tree-toad in spring is in clumps of low 

 willows growing in wet situations. Here they nestle in a crotch and trill almost 

 continuously. Even when they can be heard everj'where they are difficult 

 to find, as the sound is hard to foUow, and thej' become silent at one's near 

 approach. Their resemblance in color to the object upon which they rest 

 protects them, and by the time one gets close enough to distinguish them 

 clearly they give a prodigious leap to safety, the bright colors of their under 

 parts showing like a streak of yellow through the air. 



