106 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



George Engelmann, giving St. Louis as the place of col- 

 lection. In my long experience of collecting in this neigh- 

 borhood I have never been able to detect one. Several 

 times I collected in Dunklin County, and when investigat- 

 ing this matter I was told of a frog, called the Bell Frog. 

 Until 1909 I was unable to procure one. In that year Mr. 

 A. H. Howell of the United States Biological Survey vis- 

 ited me. As his itinerary was down to New Madrid Co., 

 I drew his attention to this frog, and on his return he 

 brought me two fine specimens (males), which he had 

 collected at Cushion Lake, near Portageville, New Madrid 

 Co., on May 5th. On July 12th Dr. F. Kingsolving of 

 Hornersville, Pemiscot Co. also sent me two specimens 

 from his neighborhood. 



Habits. — This is the nicest Tree Frog of our fauna. It 

 lives on the leaves of plants, frequenting especially lily 

 pods and other aquatic vegetation at the edges of lakes. 

 It occurs also at times in corn fields, on fences, and in and 

 outside of well houses. Its food consists of insects, par- 

 ticularly the common fly. If it sees a fly at a distance of 

 three or four feet it will make a leap to catch it, seldom 

 failing. When calling the throat-poach is inflated, the 

 body over the lungs swelling and relaxing forcibly. 



Mary C. Dickerson describes the chorus as heard in 

 southern Illinois as follows: — ^^Its note resembles the 

 tone of a small cow-bell heard at a distance. "Where 

 abundant about water, the frogs are very noisy just before 

 dusk, the chorus being broken, however, by longer or 

 shorter intervals of silence. A single note is first heard, 

 and, as if that were a signal, it is taken up and repeated 

 by a dozen noisy throats until the air is resonant with 

 sound. After a while it ceases as suddenly as it began, 

 to be again resumed after a short period of quiet." 



24. Hyla picKERiNGii Storer. Pickering's Frog. Peeping 

 Frog. Spring Peeper. 



Hylodes pickeringii, Acris pickeringii. 



Description. — Head a little longer than broad; snout rather pointed, 

 with the muzzle projecting well beyond the lower lip. Nostrils small. 



