THE SOUTHERN FROGS 



264.1 



The skin is covered with tubercles above and granules below; the general color of 

 the upper parts being yellowish or greenish, with large olive spots surrounded by 

 light colored or golden margins, while there are sometimes wine-red lines between 

 the spots. These frogs or escuerzos, as they are locally called, are abundant in 

 many parts of Argentina, and in damp weather may be met with crawling about 

 among the grass in numbers, after the manner of toads. They are exceedingly bold 

 and ferocious, flying fiercely at any one who attacks them, and maintaining their 

 hold with the tenacity of a bulldog, at the same time uttering a kind of barking 

 cry. On other occasions they give vent to a peculiarly-deep bell-like note. When 

 in repose, escuerzos are in the habit of burying themselves in the soil with only the 



ARGENTINE HORNED FROGS OR ESCUERZOS. 

 (Natural size.) 



top of the back exposed, in which state they are almost invisible. In this position 

 they lie in wait for their prey, which includes other frogs, birds, and small mam- 

 mals; and at times they capture and attempt to swallow objects too large for their 

 capacity. 



Another American genus, containing a very large number of 

 species, is that of the leaf frogs (Hylodes) which deserve mention 

 on account of the peculiar reproduction of one of its representatives, the so-called 

 Antillian frog (ff. martinicensis] . These frogs differ from the group to which the 

 last genus belongs by the absence of a bony style to the breastbone, and the un- 

 webbed hind-toes; while they are further characterized by the expansion of the tips 

 166 



Leaf Frogs 



