Allen.] 190 [December 2, 



but have never been able to recognize its note, though I have often 

 heard one fi'om trees in the woods which I attributed to it. 



Respecting its colors, Dr. Ilolbrook remarked that they were even 

 more changeable than in any species with which he was acquainted, 

 " I have seen it," he says, " pass in a few moments trom a light green, 

 unspotted and as intense as that of Hyla lateralis, to ash color, and to 

 a dull brown with darker spots ; the spots also at times taking on dif- 

 ferent tints from the general surface. The markings, too," he ob- 

 serves, '• vary exceedingly in different individuals.'^ The specimens 1 

 took from grass were quite uniform in general color, and quite green.^ 



5. Hyla Pickeringii LeConte. (Hylodes Pickenngli Holbrook. 

 Storer's Rep., p. 240.) Piping Tree Frog. Extremely abundant. In 

 early spring the marshes and pond margins everywhere ring with their 

 shrill piping notes. They are not unfrequently heard in spring the last 

 week in March, and are sometimes heard abroad at intervals during 

 the later autumn months. In December (1st to 3d) 1866, during 

 excessively warm weather, when the temperature reached 70° Fahr., 

 and the strong south wind dissolved a light snow that had fallen, 

 and nearly thawed out the frozen marshes, I heard numbers of this 

 species, and at the same time saw Rana fonlinalis and R. palustris 

 perched on the banks of ditches and brooks, while Emjjs insculpta 

 and Nanemys guttata had crawled out to enjoy the warmth. In a 

 pi'cvious "cold snap" the temperature had fallen as low as 12°, 

 snow had fall(,'n, the marshes were frozen for a week, and the ponds 

 were for a few hours covered with ice. The awakening at this time 

 from their winter's slumbers, in consequence of an unusual change 

 in the weather, shows how sensitive these creatures are, even in their 

 winter retreats, to atmospheric changes. 



While the majority of the representatives of this species undoubt- 

 edly repair to the water or to marshes to hibernate, it seems equally 

 clear that all do not ; on March 20th of the present year I heard several 

 individuals in the woods, remote from water or marshes, during a 

 very warm foggy afternoon, while half the gi'ound was covered with 

 snow, and the ponds and marshes were still thoroughly frozen. I 

 have also heard them under similar circumstances late in November, 



1 North Am. Herp., Vol. iv, p. 124. 



2 We do not perceive that the species described as Hyla Pdchardii by Prof. Baird 

 (Proc. Pliil. Acad., Vol. vii, 1854, p. 60), based on a a specimen from Cambridge, 

 Mass., differs in any particular from the present, of which we regard it a syno- 

 nym. His description is, " Above uniform grass green; smooth; beneath white. 

 Tibia considerably less than half the length of body. Hind foot less than the 

 arm from the elbow. Less than one inch in length. Hab. Cambridge, Mass." 



