1895.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 395 



Rafinesque's description (Annals of Nature, 1820, p. 5) is as 

 follows : 



" 25. Ranaria (Rana L) melanota. Back olivaceous black, a yellow 

 streak on the sides of the head, chin, throat and inside of the legs 

 whitish, with black spots; belly white, without spots. A pretty 

 frog, living in Lake Champlain and Lake George; vulgar name 

 Black Frog : total length two and a half inches. Eyes large, iris 

 gilt violet. The anterior feet have four free toes, and the hind feet 

 five palmated ones." 



There is little doubt that Rafinesque had in hand the same large, 

 dark variety of clamitans which Holbrook had ; the yellow streak 

 on the side of the head (which is faintly developed in the figure of 

 horiconensis and which is seen in the Roan Mountain frogs as an 

 irregular whitish yellow stripe from the nostril under the eye to the 

 angle of the mouth) is not a valid objection to this view. The fact 

 that Holbrook' s type also came from Lake George, and that the 

 name of "Black Frog" is applicable to it, is further proof of their 

 identity. The same frog from Lake Superior was named Rana 

 nigricans by Agassiz in 1850. Professor Cope does not think the 

 variation of the northern form of clamitans constant, and he cites a 

 a dark Louisiana example. I am inclined to believe, however, 

 that we have in eastern North America a light colored smooth- 

 skinned, medium-sized Spring-frog in the Carolinian fauna, and a large 

 dark, shagreened Spring-frog peculiar to the Canadian fauna. The 

 name and description of fontinalis of Le Conte is not more appli- 

 cable to the northern form than the southern, and he gives no 

 habitat. The name clamitans was first given to this species in Son- 

 niui and Latreille's Natural History of Reptiles, in 1802. Daudin, 

 who generally gets the credit of this name, spelt it clamata in his 

 Natural History of Reptiles in 1803, and gives himself the credit 

 of naming it in Latreille's work above cited. Bosc would appear to 

 have sent this name when he sent the types and description to La- 

 treille and Daudin from South Carolina, and so far as I can discover, 

 he has a right to some credit for the name. To accord this to him, 

 and at the same time indicate the publishing author, I have adopted 

 the formula, "Bosc Mss., Sonu., Latr." 



The spelling "clamitans" will have to be adopted, as it has 

 priority. 



It is not only bad form, but unscientific and misleading to indicate 



