FROGS. 41 



have been recorded in the food of the leopard frog but are rare in 

 the food of the other four common species of frog. 



Spiders. — Spiders and their relatives are eaten by the smaller 

 forms hke the cricket frog, swamp cricket frog, peeper, and tree toad, 

 as well as by all of the larger forms. "Spiders occur in the stomachs 

 of the toad in all months, but form only 2 per cent of the total food."* 

 In the case of the leopard frog, according to Drake, ^ they constitute 

 27 per cent of the food of the species and are, next to beetles, the 

 largest single item, while in the wood frog, pickerel frog, gi'een frog, 

 and bullfrog, spiders form 8 to 12 per cent of the food of these forms. 



Crustaceans. — The smaller forms, like the cricket frog, swamp 

 cricket frog, peeper, and tree toad, very rarely, if ever, eat small cray- 

 fish, and only in very shallow water or in pools which are drying up 

 do the leopard frogs attempt an extensive diet of crayfish. There 

 are no records of these creatures being used as food by the pickerel 

 frog, wood frog, or toad, the two latter being quite terrestrial. The 

 more aquatic creatures — that is, the green frog and the bullfrog — eat 

 them, the first to the amount of 4 or 5 ]5er cent, while the last, being 

 larger, makes them 20 or 25 per cent of its whole diet. The opposite 

 condition obtains in the case of the sow bugs, since the bullfrog does 

 not eat them and the green frog very seldom, while the more terres- 

 trial leopard frog may make sow bugs 4 or 5 per cent of its food. 

 These creatures form 2 per cent of the toad's food, and the pickerel 

 frog also occasionally eats them. 



Myriavocls. — "Myriapods [according to Kirkland "] form a constant 

 article of diet for tlie toads. * * * These creatures form 10 per 

 cent of the food for the season." They constitute 1 or 2 per cent of 

 the food of the leopard frog, 4 or 5 per cent of the food of the pickerel 

 frog, and 5 or 6 per cent of the food of the gi'oen frog. 



Insects. — ^Insects are the main food reliance for frogs, tree frogs, 

 and toads. Five orders, possibly a sixth (Diptera), enter largely 

 into their dietary list. The five principal orders are Coleoptera, 

 Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, Hemiptera, and Orthoptera. The evi- 

 dence serves again to prove that these amphibians get most, if not 

 all, of their food above the water or outside of it. 



Coleoptera, mainly ground, lamellicorn, and click beetles, and 

 weevils constitute 27 per cent of the food of the toad, while in the 

 animal food of the leopard frog beetles form 33 percent of the whole, 

 the principal groups being ground, tiger, and snout beetles. In the food 

 of the wood frog, pickerel frog, and green frog the proportion is equally 

 large, while in the diet of the bullfrog the beetle element is surprisingly 

 large; no doubt, water beetles of the surface enter into the food of 

 the bullfrog more than into that of the other species of frog. 



Lepidopterous (moths and butterflies) larvte prove very tempting 

 morsels to toads and make up 28 per cent of their food, while this 

 order constitutes 13 per cent of the leopard frog's diet, about 15 to 

 17 per cent of that of the wood frog, pickerel frog, and green frog, 

 and only about 5 or 6 per cent of that of the bullfrog. 



Hymenoptera form an appreciable part (19 per cent) of the food 

 of the terrestrial forms like the toad. In the diet of the smaller tree 

 frogs and of the young of the larger forms, hymenoptera (ants, etc.), 



a Kirkland, A. H.: Loc. cit.. p. 15. t> Drake, Carl J.: Loc. cit., p. 265. 



