HASTY OBSERVATION 257 



water to breed, returning again to the woods 

 later in the season. The same is true of the 

 tree-frog, which passes the winter in the ground 

 or in hollow trees, and takes to the marshes in 

 May to deposit its eggs. The common bull- 

 frog and the pickerel-frog doubtless pass the 

 winter in the bed of ponds and streams. I 

 think it is quite certain that hiljernating ani- 

 mals in the ground do not freeze, though by no 

 means beyond the reach of frost. The frogs, 

 ants, and crickets are probably protected by 

 some sort of acid which their bodies secrete, 

 though this is only a guess of my own. The 

 frog I dug out of the leaves one spring day, 

 while the ground above and below him was 

 frozen hard, was entirely free from frost, though 

 his joints were apparently very stiff. A friend 

 of mine in balling some trees in winter cut 

 through a den of field crickets; the ground was 

 frozen about their galleries, but the crickets 

 themselves, though motionless, were free from 

 frost. Cut the large, black tree ants out of a 

 pine log in winter and though apparently life- 

 less they are not frozen. 



There is something in most of us that wel- 

 comes a departure from the ordinary routine of 

 natural causes; we like to believe that the im- 

 possible happens; we like to see the marvelous 

 and mysterious crop out of ordinary occurrences. 

 We like to believe, for instance, that snakes 

 can charm their prey ; can exert some mysteri- 

 ous influence over bird or beast at a distance of 

 many feet, which deprives it of power to escape. 



