116 HYLA VERSICOLOR. 



notched, and free posteriorly; the palate is armed with two groups of minute 

 teeth between the posterior nares, and interrupted in the middle slightly. 



The nostrils are rather near the snout. The eyes are large and brilliant, 

 the pupil black, the iris of a bright golden-yellow. The tympanum is moderately 

 large and circular, brown, surrounded by a circle of a lighter shade. The throat 

 of the male becomes inflated while uttering its note. 



The superior surface of the body is covered with minute warts and granu- 

 lations, an unusual character in this genus: its colour is changeable, passing in a 

 short time through every intervening shade from dark brown to the palest 

 ash-colour, becoming in some parts perfectly white; it is marked with large 

 irregular blotches of dark brown; and we often find between the shoulders one of 

 these blotches cruciform; they disappear, however, almost entirely when the 

 animal assumes its lightest tint. The inferior surface of the body is white, with 

 large granulations; a small portion of the sides and posterior part of the abdomen 

 is bright yellow. 



The anterior extremities are ash-coloured above, with a few small blotches of 

 brown; the fingers are four in number, cleft, and terminating in rounded pellets, 

 by means of which the animal adheres to smooth surfaces. The posterior 

 extremities are moderately long, and ash-coloured above, with a few transverse 

 bars of dark brown, continued even to the toes; the under surface of the thighs is 

 granulated and yellow near the abdomen, white in the middle, and yellow near 

 the legs; the inferior surface of the leg is yellow, and of the foot brown. The 

 toes are five in number, palmated four-fifths of their extent, and terminating in 

 pellets, like the fingers. The skin above these pellets presents quite obviously the 

 appearance of the "human nail," spoken of by LinnsEus in other species. 



Dimensions. Length of the body from the snout to the vent, 2 inches; of the 

 thigh, nearly an inch; of the leg, to of an inch; of the tarsus and toes, H inches. 



Geographical Distribution. The Hyla versicolor is found abundantly in all 



