FROGS. 29 



very short. In general the eggs hatch withm from three to five days. 

 In colder seasons, the eggs may not hatch until 8 to 12 days have 

 passed. 



Undesirable Species. — The swamp cricket frog, one of the first 

 to appear in the spring, lays small bunches of eggs attached to sticks, 

 leaf stems (PI. XV, fig. 1), etc., in every transient pool, pond, or 

 ditch, as well as in the swamps. In each bunch are 20 to 100 eggs. 

 Usually the buDches are beneath the surface, but the mass is seldom 

 over 1 to IJ inches m diameter. The eggs, however, are black on 

 the upper half and white on the lower half. Besides, the largest 

 individual eggs of this species may be as large as the smallest green 

 frog or bullfrog eggs, which, however, are not laid until summer. 

 Furthermore, the smalhiess of the mass enables one to distinguish 

 the swamp cricket-frog eggs from any of the desirable frog-egg stock. 



The ])eeper, together with the swamp cricket frog, makes up the 

 shrill chorus from our swampy situations in early spring. They 

 often occur in the same situations as the leopard frog, but the eggs 

 of the peeper (fig. 1, C) are laid separately (PI. XIX, fig. 1), do not 

 occur m masses, and are hard to find. Plence there is little danger 

 of their confusion with those of the leoj)ard frog, though laid at the 

 same time. 



The cricket frog is one of the first forms to appear in the spruig and 

 according to several authors breeds in March, April, and May or even 

 later. Abbott" says the small masses of eggs are attached to blades 

 of coarse grass along ditches in the meadows. The writer recently 

 found them breeding actively on June 1. They had chosen a shallow 

 (1 to 4 inches deep), grassy meadow pool (PL X, fig. 1). The eggs 

 were attached smgly to sedge stems or were strewn singly on the 

 bottom. In one or two instances three or four eggs were close 

 together. Many of the eggs were in water not more than an inch 

 in depth. 



The larger tree frogs, like the common tree toad, Carolina tree frog, 

 and the pme wood's tree frog, lay their eggs from the very last of 

 May to July. The color of the eggs is brown on the upper half and 

 cream or yellowish on the lower half. On the criterion of color alone 

 they might possibly be confused with those of the pickerel frog, 

 which deposits eggs, the upper halves of which are brown and the 

 lower yellow or orange. The latter species, however, lays its eggs 

 from April 20 to May 20 before the tree frogs begm. Besides, its 

 egg masses are spherical, 2 or more inches in diameter, and are found 

 beneath the surface of the water. These tree frogs lay at the same 

 period that the green frog and the bullfrog do and, as do these, lay 

 their eggs in films on the water (Pis. XVI, fig. 2, and XVIII, fig. 1). 

 But the bullfrog and green-frog eggs occur in large films 2 to 8 inches 

 m diameter, while the tree-frog films are seldom over 1 ^ inches. Occa- 

 sionally, the large egg films of the bullfrog and green frog break up 

 into smaller films, but then they can be clistiiiguished from the tree 

 frogs by the fact that the egg is black above and white below. 



The narrow-mouthed toad is a form whose life history is not wholly 

 understood. Brimley ^ holds that it breeds from May to August, and 



o Abbott, C. C.: Notes on the habits of the "Savannah Cricket Frog." American Naturalist, Vol. 

 XVI, No. 9, p. 707, 1882. 



b Brimley, C. S.: Batrachia found at Raleigh, N. C. American Naturalist, Vol. XXX, p. 501. Phila- 

 delphia, 189G. 



