AMERICAN FROGS OF THE GENUS RANA. 425 



definition is very unsatisfactory. I trust the characters given in my 

 synopsis will answer better for purposes of identification without 

 regard to size, but they may fail in exceptional cases. 



I cannot agree with Cope when he says, "Taking all its characters 

 together, this species occupies a position intermediate between nearly 

 all the American species of the genus," and he expresses this view in a 

 diagram of the chain of affinities (p. 397) ; nor do I think him justified 

 in adding that, " from such form it might be supposed that all the Rana 

 of the northern hemisphere have been derived," a statement I would 

 rather apply to R. catesbiana and R. grylio, regarding R. septentrionalis 

 as connecting R. catesbiana with R. clamitans. 



4. Rana clamitans. 



Rana clamitans (Daxjd.), Latr., Hist. Rept. II, p. 157 (1801); Merr., 

 Tent. Syst. Amph., p. 175 (1820); Holbr., N. Am. Herp., IV, p. 85, PI. xx 

 (1842); H. Garm., Bull. Illin. Lab., Ill, 1892, p. 327; Dickerson, Frog Book, 

 p, 198, PI. xiii, fig. 1, and Pis. lxxv and lxxvi (1906); Bouleng., Ann. and 

 Mag. N. H. (9), III, 1919, p. 409. 



Rana damata Daud., Hist. Rain. Gren. Crap., p. 54, PI. lh, fig. 2 (1802), 

 and Hist. Rept., VIII, p. 104 (1803); Harlan, Amer. Journ. Sc, X, 1825, 

 p. 63, and Journ. Ac. Philad., V, 1825, p. 335; Dum. and Bibr., Exp. Gen., 

 VIII, p. 373 (1841); Gunth., Cat. Batr. Sal., p. 14 (1858); Bouleng., Cat. 

 Batr. Ecaud., p. 36 (1882); Cope, Batr. N. Am., p. 419, figs. (1889); Werner, 

 Jahresb. Nat. Ver. Magdeb., 1894, p. 135; Ditmars, Amer. Mus. Journ., V, 

 1905, p. 201, fig.; Wright, Publ. Carnegie Instit., No. 197, 1914, p. 70, 



PI. XVII. 



fRanaria melanjta Rafin., Ann. of Nature, p. 5 (1820). 



Rana fontinalis Leconte, Ann. Lye. N. Y., I, 1825, p. 282, and Proc. Ac. 

 Philad., 1835, p. 424; Holbr. t. c, p. 87, PI. xxi; Dekay, N, Y. Faun., Rept. 

 p. 62, PI. XXI, fig. 54 (1842); Hinckley, Proc. Bost. Soc. N. H., XX, 1882, 

 p. 311, PI. V, fig. 8. 



Rana flaviviridis Harl., tt. cc, pp. 58, 338, and Med. Phys. Res. p. 103 

 (1835). 



Rana hariconensis Holbr., t. c, p. 83, PI. xix; Dekay, op. cit., p. 61, PI. 

 XXII, fig. 62; Gunth., op. cit., p. 131. 



Rana nigricans Agass., Lake Super., p. 379, PI vi, figs. 4, 5 (1850). 



Rana nigrescens Leconte, Proc. Ac. Philad., 1855, p. 20. 



Rana clamator Leconte, 1. c. 



Rana clamitans mdanota Rhoads, Proc. Ac. Philad., 1895, p. 394. 



Vomerine teeth in small groups close together between the choanse 

 or just behind the level of their posterior borders. 



