134 FROGS AND TOADS 



found upon the surface, but so many of the smaller ones had 

 become embedded in the sand that it was necessary to dig 

 for them. The sand had become so hard and solid it was 

 half-way toward sandstone, and our spades and mattocks 

 loosened it with difficulty. 



About eighteen inches below the surface we came upon 

 several small frogs, three species in all, closely and solidly 

 entombed. Even the ignorant and stolid coolies were amazed 

 and excited by the discovery. The sides of the animals were 

 greatly distended by water, but from the first moment they 

 were in full possession of their faculties. 



As we released these creatures from their tombs and 

 placed them upon the grass, each one disgorged a quantity 

 of water, and hopped away. Evidently they had filled them- 

 selves with water and burrowed into the sand during the pre- 

 vious monsoon, then six months past, in order to live until the 

 next rainy season; and had the annual water supply of that 

 little stream been permanently diverted, no one can say how 

 many years these frogs would have continued to live in their 

 solid tomb of sand. The natives said that excepting in their 

 wells, there was no water anywhere for many miles around. 



THE FAMILY OF WATER FROGS 



Ranidae 



THE COMMON FROG* is the most popular and well-known 

 species in North America. It is the first to be heard in 

 spring, it gathers in the most numerous companies, and is 

 one of the most cheerful and industrious croakers we know. 

 Sometimes its cry becomes almost a warble; and when about 



1 Ra'na cla-ma'ta. 



