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£*' AN ALBINO FROG Z 



RICHARD DECKERT 





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Albinos, or animals lacking color pig- 

 ment in their structure, are not rare. 

 Animals like the rabbit, guinea pig, rat 

 and mouse have been deliberately bred 

 to albinism for hundreds of years. Oc- 

 casionally an albino horse, dog, raccoon 

 or opossum is met with, and among 

 birds, geese, ducks, pea-fowl, guinea- 

 fowl, crows and sparrows there often are 

 true albinos. 



Among reptiles, albino specimens of 

 the milk snake, garter snake and alliga- 

 tor have been exhibited in the Zoological 

 Park Reptile House. This year we are 

 able to exhibit, for the first time in the 

 United States, an albino frog. This in- 

 teresting rarity, for such it surely is, was 

 captured by Henry Snyder, the son of 

 our Head Keeper of Reptiles, at Scars- 

 dale, Westchester County, New York, 

 and by him was presented to the Zoo- 

 logical Park. 



When this specimen first was seen 

 with some normally colored green frogs, 

 it was thought to be a diseased speci- 

 men, but the young collector wisely 

 considered it worth while to take home 

 the specimen and show it to his father. 

 Mr. Snyder immediately realized the 

 rarity and importance of the find. Out 

 of the thousands of frogs that during 

 the past fifteen years have been caught 

 for our reptile collection, no one who 

 has caught and otherwise handled many 

 thousands of frogs for quite a number of 

 years ever previously has secured an 

 albino specimen. The writer has re- 

 cently examined all available records, 

 and has failed to find any mention of an 

 albino frog having been caught in the 

 United States. Europe can show records 



of several species of frogs and toads in 

 which albinism occurs from time to time, 

 but this is the first specimen recorded for 

 America. 



The specimen referred to is a common 

 pond frog (Rana clamitans), such as 

 may be found in almost any brook, ditch, 

 pool or freshwater swamp. Its color 

 is a waxy yellow white on all upper 



Albino Frog 



Photographed with common color phase to show the marked difference 



surfaces, and milky-white beneath ; the 

 eyes are brilliant red, with a narrow gold 

 rim around the pupil. Our specimen is 

 a female about two and three-quarter 

 inches in length of head and body, and 

 therefore not quite adult. At first it 

 was very timid, darting around its cage 

 with nervous agility, bruising its head 

 against the screen top and glass sides 

 whenever anyone came near it. After 

 nearly three months of captivity, how- 

 ever, it has lost its nervous fear, and 

 will come from its hiding place under 

 the moss provided for it and hunt the 

 roaches, mealworms and earthworms 

 which form its food. It will also sit 

 for hours on a large flat stone in the 



