date of the first autumn frost the frogs
disappear from the soil surface and from their usual shelters near the
surface, presumably having retired into hibernation in deep holes and
crevices.
The natural enemies include young of the copperhead. The bullfrog and
leopard frog probably take heavy toll of both the adults and the newly
metamorphosed young at the breeding ponds. Reproductive success of the
ant-eating frogs was much greater in 1954 when these ranids were
unusually scarce. The short-tailed shrew is an important enemy. On
occasion it took heavy toll of frogs trapped in pitfalls, and many of
the larger adults were scarred or mutilated from bites, probably of the
shrew.
Each of several frogs was found consistently under the same rock for
periods of weeks. The hundreds of other frogs that were marked were
rarely found twice in any one spot. Usually an individual recaptured
after weeks or months was still near the original site. In many
instances the distance involved was only a few yards, but there is some
evidence that home ranges may be as long as 400 feet in greatest
diameter. Of those caught in two or more different years only 15 per
cent were shown to have moved more than 400 feet. These few
exceptionally long movements, up to 2000 feet, involve shifts in home
range or migrations motivated by reproductive urge.
LITERATURE CITED
ANDERSON, P.
1942. Amphibians and reptiles of Jackson County, Missouri. Bull.
Chicago Acad. Sci., 6: 203-220.
ANDERSON, P. K.
1954. Studies in the ecology of the narrow-mouthed toad, Microhyla
carolinensis carolinensis. Tulane Studies in Zool., 2: 15-46.
BLAIR, A. P.
1950. Note on Oklahoma microhylid frogs. Copeia, 1950: 152.
BOGERT, C. M.
1949. Thermoregulation in reptiles, a factor in evolution.
Evolution, 3: 195-211.
BRAGG, A. N.
1943. Observations on the ecology and natural history of Anura, XV.
The hylids and microhylids in Oklahoma. Great Basin Nat.,
4: 62-80.
de CARVALHO, A. L.
1954. A preliminary synopsis of the genera of American microhylid
frogs. Occas. Papers Mus. Zool. Univ. Michigan, no. 555: 19
pp., 1 pl.
DICE, L. R.
1923. Notes on the communities of vertebrates of Riley County,
Kansas, with especial reference to the amphibians, reptiles
and mammals. Ecology, 4: 40-53.
FITCH,
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