28 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



among the frogs of Puerto Rico because of its limited range and the 

 unusual nature of its habitat. It has been found nowhere but on 

 Pandura Mountain (fig. 27), between Maunabo and Yabucoa. Here 

 it inhabits the cavities among the huge masses of decomposed granite 

 with which the steep sides of the mountain are strewn. Listening at 

 the crevices between these rocks (fig. 28) one may hear the soft, 

 musical song of the frogs coming from the cavities below. The song 

 is a series of about a dozen short, rapidly repeated notes that rise 

 vaguely by excessively small intervals. The effect is strange enough 

 when heard from the surface, but it becomes even more strange after 

 one has clambered down into the irregular and dangerous openings, 

 which prove to be much larger and more cavernous than the surface 

 appearance with its dense and deceptive covering of vegetation would 

 lead one to expect. With flashlights the frogs are easily found and 

 caught as they crawl slowly over the damp but not slippery surface of 

 the granite. 



To the natives, who know them as " guajones," these frogs are 

 objects of dread. ( )ne man said they were about a foot long and armed 

 with frightful teeth. Another assured me that anyone who saw a 

 guajon would die afterward. No offer of money would induce the boys 

 or men to go into the cavities in search of them. That some of this 

 fear extends to the dead animals safe in a collecting bottle seems to 

 be shown by the group depicted in Figure 29. 



