RANA HALECINA. 93 



shire to Georgia: Leconte has seen it in the south-western states; Lesueur on 

 the Wabash, and Say even at the Lake of the Woods, in lat. 49°. 



Habits. This is a Uvely, active animal, leaping the distance of eight or ten feet 

 when disturbed; it feeds on insects, and is commonly found in damp places, or on 

 the margins of pools of fresh water. Bosc says it is seldom seen far from water; 

 but I have frequently met with it in meadows and clover fields, when the dew 

 was abundant, in search of insects, at a great distance from its accustomed haunts. 



General Remarks. The history of this Frog is a good deal obscured by 

 reference to very dissimilar animals in the works of naturalists; yet by taking 

 the earlier descriptions, it may be made clear. Catesby certainly first described 

 the Rana halecina under the name Water-frog, and accompanied his description 

 with a very good figure. 



The next mention made of this animal is by Kalni,* a Swedish traveller, an 

 accurate observer, and excellent naturalist, who called it the Shad-frog, and 

 believed it to be identical with the Rana occllata of Linnaeus. He has described 

 its habits, observing that it appears in Pennsylvania in the spring of the year with 

 the shad and herring, and hence the Swedes who settled on the Delaware called it 

 "Sill hoppetosser," or herring hopper: in his "Travels" it is called Rana halecina, 

 "halec" being an Indian name for shad or herring. LimiiEust probably considered 

 the Rana halecina, from Kalm's description of it, as identical with his Rana 

 ocellata, to which it bears but a slight resemblance; both are certainly ocellated, 

 but the spots are not disposed in the same manner; the Rana ocellata is more 

 than twice the size of the Rana halecina, is peculiar to the West Lidies and 

 South America, and has never been found in the United States. Linnaeus gave a 

 still more remarkable reference to the Rana maxima Americana aquatica of 

 Catesby, which is certainly the Bull-frog, and entirely unlike the Rana halecina. 



* Kalm's Travels in North America, Forster's translation, vol. ii. p. 8S. 



•f Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., vol. i. p. 356. 



