Tommy Brown, age 11, of Bossier City, Lao,, 'o His question:

Do frogs live in trees?

You may not know it, but when you walk through the woods you are watched by countless pairs of eyes, You maybe seen by. the brown eyes of a small bunny hunched in a pile of leaves the same color as his coat, A spider may look down on you from a silken thread in a tall branch, Countless small birds may be studying you from various clumps of thick foliage, And almost certainly you will be regarded from all directions by a number of tree frogs.

There is a population of tree frogs in almost every clump of trees where the shadows are dim and the moisture from the dew hovers all day in the air. These little fellows are cousins of that champion swimmer the pond frog, and of the squat, warty toad who takes to the fields and meadows. All of them are amphibians who live part of their life to water and part on land,

All the amphibians hatch from jelly‑like eggs and become tadpoles fitted with gills for taking oxygen from the water. As they develop, in most cases the gills are swapped for a pair of lungs for taking oxygen from the air. However, every amphibian wears a wonderful skin which can take dissolved oxygen straight into his blood stream. A grown frog can stay under water without suffocating as long as he chooses.

The eggs of the pond frog and those of most toads are hatched directly into the water where the tadpoles live the fishy, kindergarten stage of their lives. Many tree frogs also hatch in a pond. Some, however, live high 3.n tropical trees where they never see the ground or get down to water level. These little creatures often hatch from eggs layed in pockets of moisture among the foliage. During the tadpole stage, when it is necessary to get dissolved oxygen, these fellows depend these fellows depend on dew drops and filmy moisture among leaves and bark. They are tree frogs all their life.

The tree frogs which hatch in ponds leave home soon after their new lungs have replaced their fishy gills. The tadpole tail has vanished and, like the pond frogs, they are now miniature copies of their parents. At this stage of development, the toads hop away to the wide open meadows. The tree frogs hop away to clamber up a nearby tree trunk. They are able to do this because their dainty little toes end in round disks which act as suckers to help them cling as they climb.

Some of the tree frogs will return to ponds and streams when time comes to lay the eggs. Bgt for the most part life is spent in the damp, shady branches. There they sit, climb and crawl, waiting and watching for something go.3 to eat and blending their greens and browns into the scenery so well that you would never know they were there. When a bug buzzes by, out flashes a sticky tongue like a whip and the tree frog enjoys a snack.