J 24. BATRACHIA. 



the inhabitants that Rattlesnakes do not occur where there is white 

 ash timber, and I was assured that there were none nearer than 

 Phoenicia, of about 800 feet elevation. 



Of the Batrachia the following named species were observed : — 



Rana clamitmis Merrem. — Green Frog. 



Rana Catesbiana Shaw. — Bull Frog; occurs about certain small 

 lakes not distant from the Big Indian Valley, in which section it was 

 not observed. 



Rana temporaria sylvatica (Le Conte) Gthr. — Wood Frog. 



Hyla Pickeringii Holbrook.- — H)la; Piping Tree Frog. 



Btifo lentiginostis Amcricanus (Le Conte) Cope. — Common Toad. 



Pldhodon crythronotns (Green) Baird. — Red-backed Salamander. 



Spdcrpcs bilincatus (Green) Baird. — Two-striped Salamander. 



Spclcrpes rttber (Daudin) Gray. — Red Triton or Salamander. 



Desmognathus ochropJicea Cope. — Alleghany Mountain Salaman- 

 der.* 



In addition to these, Amblystoma pundattnn (L.) Baird (Large 

 Yellow-spotted Salamander), and Diemyctylus miniatiis Raf. (Red 

 Eft)f were brought by my brother (P. C. B.) from the same county. 



*The only common name that I have seen used for this Salmander, "Yellow Desmognath" 

 (Jordan's Manual), it seems undesirable to perpetuate. The animal is not yellow, and there is 

 no reason why the surnominal appellation should not conform with that of other members of the same 

 genus. For these reasons I have taken the liberty of using a common name based on the very 

 characteristic distribution of the animal. 



f Although this species has been regarded as merely a variety, or state, of D. viridescens, and 

 recently developed facts (See American N'attiralist, XII, 6, 399) have been construed as proof of 

 its identity with that species, it is perhaps yet too soon for a final decision in the premises. I am 

 induced here to retain the forms as distinct, from the fact of having dredged an individual of 

 miniatus from a pond containing abundance of viridescens; both animals under these common con- 

 ditions remaining obviously different. The specimen referred to was taken from a depth of over 

 two feet of water, and showed indications of activity of the procreative functions. The pond where 

 it occurred was well shaded, with dark water and muddy bottom, and naturally the influence of 

 these conditions was expressed in the color of the animal. This was unusually dull with little 

 obvious reddish tinge, and a careless glance might have referred the specimen to viiidescensj 

 but a difference in the texture and appearance of the skin, and a slenderness and delicacy of general 

 form at once proclaimed the difference, which comparison emphasized. 



