BULL-FROGS 363 



up of numerous dialogues, in which one of each 

 pair says "ough," and the other forthwith replies 

 "ver, rugh." Such utterances recur several times 

 in succession; a short pause follows, and then the 

 conversation begins again. The curious thing is 

 that all the performers seated in one patch of 

 swamp should have such a tendency to synchronous 

 action that periods of total silence alternate with 

 those of general uproar. The phenomenon is parallel 

 to that of the synchronous luminosity that sometimes 

 occurs so markedly in groups of fireflies. When 

 bull-frogs first come out for the season, the din that 

 they can make is often enough to be very annoying 

 to light sleepers. A friend of mine, whilst living 

 in a house close to which were two small frog- 

 haunted ponds, used to go to bed every night with a 

 hog-spear lying handy for use when the nocturnal 

 uproar became more than usually offensive, and 

 another inmate of the same place was often driven 

 to make excursions with a saloon pistol in the vain 

 hope of being able to kill his tormentors. In addi- 

 tion to their sexual grunting cries, bull-frogs have 

 another and very distinct call which sounds exactly 

 like a number of small bladders bursting in rapid 

 succession. 



Considering how essentially aquatic they are, 

 it is somewhat surprising to find them depositing 

 their ova in the sites which they generally choose 

 for that purpose. The common toads, who are by 



