THE OVERLAPPING-CHESTED TREE FROGS 



2647 



locally to a considerable degree in coloration and habits. The males are furnished 

 with a large external vocal sac on the throat, and the skin is smooth above and 

 granulated beneath. The general coloration may be described as greenish above, 

 and uniform whitish beneath, but there are many variations in regard to the mark- 

 ings on the upper parts; the typical form having a grayish or black light-edged 

 streak extending from the nostrils through the eye and ear along each side 'of the 

 body, and sending a branch upward and forward on the loin, while a whitish line 

 descends from the upper lip to the shoulder, and then runs upward to the eye, thus 

 inclosing an elongated green area. In habits this frog is most active; and while 

 in swimming it is nearly equal to the common frog, in leaping it is its superior, in 

 addition to which it is a most expert climber. When croaking, the sac on the 

 throat of the males becomes so inflated as to make this appendage nearly as large as 

 the body. L/ike toads, tree frogs do not appear to touch the insects on which they 

 prey until these begin to move. Flies, spiders, beetles, butterflies, and smooth cat- 

 erpillars appear to form their favorite food; although they have been known to at- 

 tack and kill humble bees. The European species is of very small size, but some 

 of the American and Australian species attain comparatively large dimensions, one 

 of the largest members of the genus being H. faber, of Brazil, which measures as 

 much as three and one-half inches in length. 



An interesting account of the breeding habits of the frog last men- 

 Nesting Habits ,. j u- u -o -i 1 ..i. .r ,.! 



tioned, which in Brazil is known as the jerretro, or smith, is given 



by Dr. Goeldi, whose 



observations were made 



in the Organ mountains. 



adjoining the bay of Rio 



de Janeiro. This frog 



makes regular pools of a 



circular form in the 



shallow borders of ponds 



and swamps, such pools 



being surrounded by a 



narrow mud wall. In 



1894 one pond contained 



nine of these pools, 



which served as nests for 



the tadpoles. " On the 



night of the eighteenth 



of February," writes the 



describer, "between 



nine and eleven o'clock, 



we approached the pond, 



occupied, as we could hear from a distance, by at least a dozen of the large tree 



frogs. The moon was shining brightly, and much favored our undertaking, but 



ven under these circumstances we had to accustom our sight to discern the 



details in the marginal vegetation, and the portion somewhat hidden in the 



EUROPEAN TREE FROGS. 

 (Natural size.) 



