THE CLIMAX FOREST AND ITS PREDECESSOR 219 



including the big eyed elater (Fig. 292), are common under 



the bark, as are some ground beetles in hiding here. The 



green-legged locust and Blatchley's locust (Fig. 293) are 



characteristic. In the wood, in gal- 



leries which they excavate, are the 



larvae of wood borers; the flatheads, 



larvae of metallic wood borers, and 



the fleshy grubs of the horned Pas- 



salus (Fig. 294). Carpenter ants and 



carpenter bees, the latter small but 



brilliantly colored in metallic blues 



and greens, are to be found in the 



same situation. Several species of 



beetles (Fig. 295) are found in the 



fungi on the forest floor and on old 



logs. Two amphibians are charac- 



teristic here, the red-backed sala- 



mander found hiding in moist 



recesses under old logs, and the wood .frog, Rana sylvatica 



(Fig. 296). The latter is so common, hopping on the forest 



floor, and so characteristic of the climax forest that Shelford 



calls this beech-maple society the wood frog association. Tree 



FlG - 292 The eyed elater, 

 , and its larva. 



FIG. 293. Blatchley's locust, Melanoplits blatchleyi 



frogs, Hyla versicolor and H. pickeringii, are found here but are 

 also abundant in earlier forest stages (Figs. 173, 174). 



In the shrub stratum are some characteristic insect larvae and 

 some spiders. The larva of Papilio ajax is found on the pawpaw, 

 and the butterfly wings its tantalizing flight through the forest 

 and about its margin (Fig. 297) . The green-clouded swallowtail, 



