78 RANA PIPIENS. 



Description. The head is very large, broader than it is long, olive above, with 

 the snout green and rounded in front; the upper jaw is green, the lower white, 

 with dusky marks; the throat is clouded yellow. The mouth is very large, and 

 the interval between the palatine teeth is consequently large. The nostrils are 

 lateral and nearer the snout than the orbit. The eyes are very large and promi- 

 nent, the pupil black, the iris of a beautiful golden, reticulated with black. The 

 vocal vesicles are internal, and the orifice by which the air enters them is under 

 the Eustachian tube. The tympanum is large, finely bronzed, with a small yellow 

 spot in the centre. The body is large and thick, smooth above, green in front, 

 dusky, with only a greenish tinge behind, and marked with irregular blotches of 

 dark brown. The thorax and abdomen are smooth, yellowish-white, and often 

 clouded with dusky. 



The anterior extremities are short, thick, dusky above, with a tinge of green, 

 and marked with a dark brown oblong spot at the shoulder, and a similar one at 

 the elbow; their lower surface is yellowish-white; the fingers are four in number, 

 short, very stout, and not palmated. The posterior extremities are exceedingly 

 long and large, dark green above, with numerous dusky brown oblong spots, or 

 transverse bars, as far as the external toe. The under surface of the thigh is 

 yellowish-white, the posterior part granulated; the nates are yellowish-white, 

 mottled with black; the under surface of the leg is silver-white; there are five 

 long, but stout, fully pahnated toes; these, as well as the fingers, increase in size 

 a little at their tips. 



Dimensions. This is the largest of our frogs, reaching even to the length of 21 

 inches. Dimensions of the individual from which the accompanying figure was 

 taken: — Length of body, 5 inches; of thigh, 2 inches 3 lines; of leg, 2 inches 4 

 lines; of tarsus and toes, 3 inches 5 lines: total, 13 inches. 



Habits. Bull-frogs are found about stagnant ponds or sluggish rivers, and 

 in general are solitary in their habits, only collecting together in the breeding 

 season, at which time hundreds may be seen in some small pond, and then the croak 



