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 homed 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- FlG - 2 9 2.-The eyed elater, 



r , i j , Alans oculatus. and its larva, 



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 Shelf ord 

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



FIG. 293. Blatchley's locust, Melanoplus mridipes 



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, 



