100 COP EI A 



NOTE ON A ONE-LEGGED FROG. 



On October 12, 1915, I caught a young, one- 

 legged pickerel frog (Rana palustris) at the border 

 of a lake south of Smithtown, Long Island, N. Y. 

 The head and body of the specimen measured not 

 more than one and one-half inches, and one hind leg 

 (I forgot whether the right or left), was gone com- 

 pletely from the pelvic joint, the skin of the hip show- 

 ing practically no scar. 



This frog lived in a vivarium with several exam- 

 ples of Amby stoma tigrinum, Hyla andersoni, other 

 amphibians, and snails, for nine months. At the time 

 of its capture, it had already co-ordinated its asym- 

 metrical organism to such an extent that it could 

 swim straight ahead; by April, 1916, I observed it 

 jumping for food so efficiently as not to suffer by 

 comparison with normal frogs. During the autumn, 

 and again in the spring, we fed it chopped earth- 

 worms, house-flies, etc., but for many weeks in the 

 winter it had practically nothing to eat. It took most 

 of its food from tweezers, always grasping it with 

 its jaws rather than capturing by projection of the 

 tongue. It usually accepted only four or five morsels 

 at one feeding. 



By May, 1916, it had grown perceptibly, and 

 had assumed very bright coloring, the richest of "cop- 

 per glaze" fringing its jaws and running along the 

 ridges of its back. At this season it fed altogether 

 on crickets, which were simply set free in the viva- 

 rium. The frog, in spite of its lop-sided source of 

 propulsion, leaped with fatal precision for distances 

 up to 12 or 14 inches, and devoured the unfortunate 

 crickets at leisure. The process of swallowing a large 

 victim was almost snake-like in its deliberation. 



In July, 1916, I freed the frog at Garden City, 

 Long Island. R c Murphy, 



Brooklyn, N. Y. 



Edited by J. T. Nichols, American Museum of Natural History 

 PRICE FIVE CENTS 



