262 ANURA 



CHAP. 



Eocky Mountains, southwards into Mexico, northwards into 

 Canada. 



According to Holbrook the Bullfrogs are solitary in their 

 habits, only collecting together in the breeding season, when 

 hundreds may be seen in the same small pond ; and then the 

 croak uttered by the males is so loud as to resemble the distant 

 roaring of a bull, and can be heard on still evenings at a distance 

 of half a mile. The voice is a hoarse bass " brwoom," playfully 

 translated into " more rum." " They cannot be said to abound, 

 but are found commonly enough sitting half immersed in 

 water, or on the banks of ponds, waiting for their prey. If 

 alarmed they hop suddenly into the water, but do not conceal 

 themselves at once, frequently skimming along the surface for 

 several yards before they dive below." They are the most 

 aquatic of all the North American frogs, and Holbrook has 

 known specimens to live in wells for years, where they could 

 not rest a moment on solid ground above the water. 



The Bullfrog is voracious, and takes almost anything that 

 lives or gets into his own pond Mollusca, Crustacea, fishes and, 

 above all, frogs. There is no doubt that they drag down and 

 swallow a good many ducklings and the young of other 

 water-fowl, but certainly not the half-grown birds which have 

 a way of disappearing from the farms wherever there are 

 negroes and other farm-hands about. In turn the bullfrog has 

 sufficient enemies to keep its numbers down, in fishes, birds, 

 otters, and snakes, and, in the South, alligators. Although easily 

 kept and growing comparatively tame, they are dull, having 

 to be kept in solitary confinement on account of their 

 greediness, which knows no limits. Two of our specimens each 

 swallowed a full-grown Salamandra maculosa, and died within 

 the same night, probably not understanding the meaning of 

 the conspicuous black and yellow warning colours of the 

 European. 



R. clamata s. fontinalis, likewise an inhabitant of Eastern 

 North America, may be called a smaller edition of the Bullfrog, its 

 usual full-grown size being about 3^ inches. The tympanum is 

 conspicuously large, but the toes are webbed to a lesser extent, 

 and the skin forms a glandular fold which extends from 

 the shoulder in a curve to the flank. This species is partial 

 to the neighbourhood of running streams ; it is said to be 



