208 ANURA 



CHAP. 



a rule it is brown, with a more or less reddish or grey ground- 

 tone, ornamented with dark brown or blackish irregular, longi- 

 tudinal patches, one of which is Bordered with light green, and there 

 is often a light vertebral streak. The legs are cross-barred, the under 

 parts are whitish brown and yellowish. The male has a subgular 

 vocal sac, and its most remarkable feature is the voice, which 

 closely resembles the noise of a cricket or of certain grasshoppers. 

 Holbrook describes it as a merry little frog, constantly chirping 

 like a cricket, even in confinement. It frequents the borders of 

 pools, and is often found on the leaves of aquatic plants, rarely 

 on the branches of such low shrubs as overhang or dip into the 

 water. When disturbed it takes long jumps, and hides at the 

 bottom of the pond. Insects are secured by leaps. It can 

 easily be domesticated, and takes food readily from the hand. 

 Sprinkling them with water never fails to make them more 

 lively and noisy. Appearing in April in great numbers, they 

 are said to vanish early in the autumn for hibernation. The 

 tadpoles are metamorphosed by the end of August. 



Chorophilus. The fingers and toes are provided with very 

 small adhesive discs. The sacral diapophyses are very slightly 

 dilated. About seven species occur in North America, chiefly in 

 the Southern States, one, Ch. cuzcanus, in Peru. Ch. ocularis is 

 the smallest of the frog-kind known, and lives in South Carolina, 

 frequenting damp places, the vicinity of stagnant pools, water- 

 plants or low shrubs, for instance the " myrtle," Myrica cerifera. 

 I once had two of these tiny creatures less than three-quarters of 

 an inch in length. They were very active, and took surprisingly 

 long leaps, jumping distances of 2 feet, but could not be kept 

 through the winter, although they took minute insects readily 

 enough. The head is narrow, long and pointed; the upper parts 

 are of a rich chestnut-brown with a bronzy gloss. The upper 

 jaw is white ; a black band extends along the sides of the head 

 and body. The under parts are yellowish white. 



Ch. ornatus is another inhabitant of the South-Eastern 

 States ; its name refers to the dark brown patches on the back 

 and sides, bordered with golden yellow, upon a reddish-brown 

 ground-tone, while the under parts are silvery white with fine 

 grey spots. This frog, a little more than one inch in length, 

 lives on land in dry places, preferably in corn-fields, has no voice, 

 and, except during the pairing season, carefully avoids the water. 



