FAMILY RANIDJE. 71 



GENUS HYLA. Laurenti. 



Body sotnewhat tapering. Teeth in the upper jaw and palate. A tympanum. No parotids. 

 Fingers long, and with the toes terminating in rounded viscous pellets. Males with a 

 vocal vesicle. 



Obs. The skin above, in most of the American species, is smooth. 



THE NORTHERN TREE-TOAD. 



Hyla versicolor. 



PLATE XXI. FIG. 53, a.— (STATE COLLECTION.) 



Hyla versicolor. Le Conte, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. Vol. 1, p. 281. 



H. id. Harlan, Acad. Nat. Sc. Vol. 5, p. 343. Id. Med. and Phys. Res. p. 108. 



H. id. Holbrook, N. Am. Herp. Vol. 1, pi. 17; and Vol. 4, p. 115, pi. 28, 2d Ed. Storer, Mass. Rep. p. 241. 



Characteristics. Broad. Leg shorter than the thigh. Grey. Small warts above ; granulate 

 beneath. Posterior parts of the thighs bright yellow. Length two inches. 



Description. Body robust and broad, covered with numerous small warts. Head broad, 

 and terminating in a blunt snout. Fore feet with four toes terminating in rounded pellets ; 

 the internal toe shortest. Hind feet with five toes terminating in the same manner, but semi- 

 palmate. Under side of the body and thighs granulate. Eyes large and prominent. 



Color. This varies, as is well known, at the will of the animal, from grey to green. The 

 more usual color is ash above, with a dusky acute-angled cross made up of irregular blotches, 

 which also extend over the sides of the body and across the extremities. Eyes with black 

 pupils and golden irides. Beneath whitish ; the chin speckled with cinereous. Legs beneath 

 yellowish; posterior part of the thighs yellow, barred with black. 



Length 2-0. 



This is universally distributed through the State, and is a northern species. The surface 

 is covered with a viscid acrid secretion, which, as in the case of the common toad, has led to 

 the popular belief in its being poisonous. It lives almost exclusively on trees ; and during 

 damp weather, it is particularly clamorous. It feeds on insects. I have been assured by 

 many credible persons that it possesses ventriloquial powers in no inconsiderable degree, and 

 often deceives the most attentive observers. This, together with its faculty of assimilating 

 its color with that of the tree on which it rests, renders its capture very difficult. Extends 

 from Maine to Virginia, and is also found in Tennessee and Ohio. 



