WATER-FROGS AND TREE-FROGS 
3G3 
most numerous companies, and is one of the most 
cheerful and industrious croakers we know. 
Sometimes its cry becomes almost a warble ; and 
when about fifty voices are raised in tuneful 
chorus from the surface of one small pond, each 
one trilling and piping at the rate of sixty to 
the minute, without missing a note, the effort is 
certain to attract attention, in case there is any 
to be bestowed. 
This species is one of the handsomest of our 
water-frogs, and is colored to match its marshy 
home. Its upper ground-color is a brilliant- 
green, broken up by irregular black blotches that 
are bordered with dull white, with dark bars 
across the legs. The head-and-body length is 
about 2^ inches. 
The Bull-Frog 1 is known by its deep-bass 
voice, and its great size when adult. Beside 
the preceding species, this creature is a giant, 
and it is small wonder that the eyes of epicures 
rest covetously upon its massive thighs. Its 
upper color varies from bright green to dark olive- 
brown, marked with small and rather inconspic- 
uous dark spots. Its length varies from 5 to 8 
inches, and it is so well known that further de- 
scription is unnecessary. 
As an indication of the extent to which frogs’ 
legs are consumed as food in the United States, 
the latest statistics of the United States Fish 
Commission are interesting. In 1899, the total 
quantity of frog meat recorded in the markets 
was 472,415 pounds, valued at $74,690. The 
following were the chief sources of the supply: 
Pounds. Worth. 
Missouri 237,608 $29,313 
Arkansas . 79,760 10,162 
California 20,687 20,638 
In 1895, New York handled 69,774 pounds, 
valued at $6,572. 
The Wood-Frog 2 is not often found without 
specially seeking it. In the spring, when you 
are searching for early flowers, and are startled 
by seeing a small dead leaf suddenly take life 
and leap about four feet, you may know that it 
is one of these small creatures. It is only 1^ 
inches long, being next in smallness to the tree- 
frog. Although for a frog so small it can leap a 
very long distance, its strength is soon exhausted, 
and its final capture is easily made. 
1 Ra'na cates-bi-an'a. 2 Ra'na syl-vat'i-ca. 
THE TREE-FROG FAMILY. 
Hylidae. 
If tree-frogs were of great rarity, and inhabited 
only one remote island of a far-distant archipel- 
ago, their arboreal habits would be accounted as 
much of a wonder as the flying-frog of Borneo. 
But being fairly abundant in the eastern United 
States, the tree-frogs are regarded with but a 
mild degree of interest. 
These creatures, which vary in length from 
one inch to five inches, have been provided with 
an opposable thumb, and a very effective suck- 
ing disc on the end of each toe, by which they are 
NORTHERN TREE-FROG. 
Natural size. Photographed at the instant of 
croaking, and copyright, 1903, by W. Lyman 
Underwood. 
able to climb trees, and live very comfortably 
upon their branches. Of all vertebrates that live 
in trees, these tiny frogs are the most difficult to 
see. Even when one is chirping boldly and cheer- 
fully within six feet of your eyes, it is necessary 
to look keenly in order to locate it. There are 
few kinds of rough bark with which the colors 
of a tree-frog do not combine with startling ac- 
curacy. The opposable thumb, which appears 
in frogs and tree-toads for the first time in Nat- 
ure’s ascending scale, is of great use, and in all 
probability it is the principal factor in the arbo- 
real life of these animals. 
In South America there are several species 
of tree-frogs whose females carry their eggs, 
during incubation, in pouches or cells upon their 
backs. It is believed that the eggs are placed in 
