57 



It does not even confine itself strictly to the neighborhood 

 of ponds but often wanders to long distances from water. 

 We are apt to see them gi^dng long, low leaps ahead of us 

 as we cross any meadow. If water is near they make 

 straight for it and with a most graceful dive, disappear 

 with comparatively little splashing. The frogs vary 

 greatly in gound color, being green, gray or brown, but as 

 would be suspected from their name, they are strongly 

 and handsomely blotched, each spot being margined with 

 a lighter color. 



Leopard Frogs are among the first to appear in spring, 

 being preceded only by the small tree frogs, usually 

 designated as "Spring peepers." The leopards have pe- 

 culiar but musical voices, low in pitch and low in volume. 

 During the latter part of !March, their eggs are laid in 

 masses in the shallow water about the edges of ponds. 

 These masses may be attached to vegetation or left float- 

 ing; they contain usually from two thousand to eight 

 thousand eggs. These numerous eggs are tiny, black 

 above and white below, the white being food-yolk upon 

 which the developing tadpole is to live; each egg is 

 encased in a gelatinous substance. 



If we look at these eggs daily with a magnifying glass 

 we can see the interesting changes that take place. On 

 the third day the eggs commence to elongate and in two 

 days more we can make out the head and where the tail 

 is to be. On the ninth or tenth day, the tiny tadpole wrig- 

 gles out from the jelly mass, being then about one quarter 

 of an inch in length. 



They remain rather quiet for a few days, their internal 

 organs meantime developing. On about the sixteenth day 

 their mouths open and they become full-fledged tadpoles, — 

 very active, dashing quickly and aimlessly about, devour- 

 ing the slime or minute algae that is always forming on> 

 stones or plant life. They have turned lighter in color^ 

 in fact just matching in shade the muddy bottoms on which, 

 they rest when not swimming wildly about. This color- 

 protection seems to be the only protection they do have 



