Reptiles and Amphibians of Illinois. 337 



exceptions occur in which it is slightly spotted, and on a female 

 before me are two black bands just within and parallel to the 

 rami of the mandible. The posterior part of the abdomen 

 and the ventral side of the thighs are generally pale. 



Abundant throughout the State. Specimens have been 

 studied from Freeport, Normal, Galesburg, and Centralia. 



Variety lentiginosus 



Cranial ridges elevated and with a bulbous enlargement 

 behind. Body less stout, limbs more slender, fingers and toes 

 longer and more slender, mouth larger, eye larger, and skin 

 very much less coarsely tuberculate, than in the variety ameri- 

 canus. 



Two toads, now before me, from southern Illinois, differ 

 from others collected in the central part of the State in so 

 many particulars, and agree in many points so closely with the 

 variety lentiginosus, as to warrant our including this variety in 

 the fauna of the State. Attention was called to these toads by 

 the peculiar note they uttered, — a note quite unlike the trill of 

 toads which collect in ponds in central Illinois in the spring 

 of the year. The note consists of a prolonged and rather 

 shrill scream, repeated at short intervals at dusk in sum- 

 mer evenings. The toads themselves were more active than 

 their more northern cousins, hopping with such celerity as to 

 lead one quite a chase before they could be captured. In 

 markings they agree well with the northern variety, but the 

 ground color is more predominant, the spots being proportion- 

 ately reduced in size. The entire ventral side of the body is 

 yellowish white. The ridges of the head are not so much en- 

 larged posteriorly as they are on large examples of this variety 

 from the Southern States, but are markedly elevated behind. 

 The most noticeable difference between these specimens and 

 those of the variety americanus^ from central Illinois, is in the 

 smooth skin and slender legs and digits of the former. The 

 foot and toes are especially slender and the webs are much re- 

 duced in size. The entire build of these two specimens is sug- 

 gestive of the appropriateness of the name "land frog/' given 

 this variety by the early writers on American Herpetology. 



Length of the two specimens 2.37 and 2.12 respectively. 



