95 



RANA PALUSTRIS.— Lecon/e. 



Plate XXIII. 



Characters. Body pale brown above, with two longitudinal rows of square 

 spots of a dark brown colour on the back and on each flank, yellowish-white 

 beneath; posterior half of the thighs bright yellow, mottled with black. 



Synontmes. Rana palustris, Leconte, Ann. Lye. N. Y., vol. i. p. 282. 

 Rana pardalis, Harlan, Silliman's Journ., vol. x. p. 50. 

 Rana palusti'is, Dumeril et Bibron, Hist. Nat. des Rept., torn. viii. p. 356. 

 Pickerel-frog, Vulgo. 



Description. The Rana palustris is a slender and delicately formed animal. 

 The head is short and rather obtuse, with a dark brown spot on the top of each 

 orbit, and another near the snout, with an indistinct dark line extending from the 

 nostrils to the orbit of the eye. The upper jaw is yellowish-white, spotted with 

 black; the lower is white, and spotted in like manner. The mouth is large, and 

 the palate is armed with tAvo distinct groups of minute teeth between the 

 posterior nares, less extensive in the antero-posterior direction than in the Rana 

 halecina. 



The nostrils are nearly midway between the orbit and snout, a httle nearer 

 the latter. The eyes are large and prominent, the pupil black, with the iris of a 

 golden colour; the tympanum is moderate, though smaller than in the Rana 

 halecina; its colour is bronze, with a spot of a darker shade in the middle. A 

 yellow line begins at the eye, and runs below the tympanum to the base of the 

 anterior extremities. 



