. 
of his observations, by examining for themselves. 
Say on Herpetology. 265 
ventral color, of the same pale orange. It is decidedly aquatic. 
Several specimens are preserved in the collection of the Acad- 
emy of Natural Sciences, and from these it is evident that the 
reddish color of the subocellate spots is destroyed by the action 
of the antiseptic liquid; to this circumstance it is probably ow- 
ing that these spots have been hitherto described as white. 
After stating these differential traits, it may be proper to ob- 
serve, that the S. maculata of Shaw is synonymous with the 
above. But I think it most proper to restore Gmelin’s name, 
punctata, which will afford an opportunity to do justice to the 
memory of Laurenti, by reviving the original name by which he 
distinguished the Var. 8. of Lacerta, aquatica, Gmel., that of 
rist 
parisinus. 
‘Bufo cornuta. This animal, which has been stigmatized as 
the most prodigiously deformed creature known to exist?! is gen- 
erally supposed to inhabit North America as well as Surinam. I 
do not think it has ever been found in North.America. Shaw, in 
Nodder’s Nat. Misc. says it is principally found in Virginia, but 
inhis general zoology, I think he says that Seba was in error 
when he represented its native country to be North America. 
Two other species of Bufo have been correctly stated to inhabit 
this country, viz. B. musicus, and Crapaud rougedtre, Daud. (B. 
rubidus) first noticed as distinct by Mr. William Bartram. I dis- 
covered a third species on the banks of St. John’s river, East 
lorida, which, as | am not at present prepared to describe, I 
shall not surreptitiously name. 
It is, | conceive, an incumbent duty on the describer of a nat- 
ural object, to deposit his specimen, or @ duplicate, when practi- 
cable, in some cabinet or museum, to which he should refer, in 
order that subsequent writers may be satisfied with the accuracy 
By such ref- 
erence, and by the re-examination of the same objects by others, 
the plethoric redundance of synonyma, that prolific source of accu- 
Mulating error, will be banished or elucidated, and naturalists 
Will most readily arrive at the’ knowledge of truth, which is, or 
ought to be, the grand leading object of their labors. 
Yon. 1....No. 3. g 
