HYLA VERSICOLOR. 117 



the northern and middle states, as far as lower Virginia, which state must for the 

 present be considered its limit to the south. I cannot determine its geographical 

 distribution west of the Alleghanies; it seems however widely extended, for Le- 

 sueur observed it on the Wabash, and Professor Troost furnished me with 

 several fine specimens from the banks of the Cumberland river. 



Habits. This animal is commonly found on trees and about old stone fences, 

 overgrown with mosses and lichens, the colour of which it so closely resembles 

 that it frequently escapes observation, even when sought for. It very commonly 

 chooses old and decaying plum trees for its abode, probably because the insects 

 on which it feeds are most abundant in such situations. It is very noisy towards 

 evening, in cloudy weather, or before rain, its voice consisting of a liquid note, 

 terminating abruptly, like 1-1-1-1-l-l-luk. At the close of spring, and during great 

 part of the summer, when the toad has become silent, this note may be heard, 

 especially in the evening, from various shallow pools, to which the animal resorts 

 for the purpose of depositing its spawn. Harlan* mentions an instance of one 

 being dug up at the root of an apple tree, during the winter season, several feet 

 beneath the surface of the ground. 



General Remarks. The vericose body of this Hyla, and its rounded shape, 

 give it the appearance of a toad; the skin also is moist and viscid, exuding an 

 acrid fluid, which has led many persons to believe it poisonous; and certainly the 

 secretion aflbrded by the glands of the cutaneous organs is more acrid than that 

 given oflf by any other toad or frog which I have seen in a living state. 



It is remarkable that an animal so common and so very noisy should have so 

 long escaped the attention of naturalists. The first mention made of it is in 

 Kalm's "Travels in North America:" he however only describes its habits, and 

 refers to the Rana arborea of Linnaeus, to which it bears but a slight resemblance. 

 Leconte was certainly the first who minutely and accurately described it, and 

 established its claim to be considered as a new and distinct species. 



* Medical and Physical Researches, p. 109. 



