372 THE MOUNTAIN. 



RANA Pipiens, (Halicina of Holbrook,) water-frog. This 

 frog abounds in the streams, ditches, and pools of the moun- 

 tain. It makes a well-known piping noise, and is one of the 

 harbingers of spring, waking up from his muddy doze, and 

 adding his voice to the concert which announces the vernal 

 resurrection. The accumulated piping of multitudes of this 

 frog is sometimes deafening. 



RANA Palustris. Range, according to Holbrook, "Atlan- 

 tic States from Maine to Virginia." Found on the moun- 

 tain. 



RANA Conspersa. Ponds and ditches of the State. This 

 species is common. 



RANA Sylvatica. Wood-frog. Harlan's Pennsylvania. 

 Holbrook gives a range to this frog from New Hampshire to 

 Virginia, Ohio, and Michigan. The wood-frog is found in 

 all the forests of the mountain. It is a beautiful and ex- 

 ceedingly agile species, making long leaps when disturbed, 

 and quickly concealing itself in the leaves and moss. 



BUFO Americanus. Common American toad. This rep- 

 tile is well known to all, although its habits, which are in- 

 teresting, are known to few. It first grows like the frog, a 

 tadpole in water, and afterwards assumes terrestrial relation- 

 ships. It has nocturnal habits, destroying many noxious 

 insects, is harmless and wise, and said to be susceptible of 

 domestication. Its beautiful eyes and style of capturing its 

 insect prey are much admired.* It has a wide geographic 

 range. 



HYLA Versicolor, (Le Conte.) Tree-frog. This is an 



* The family Ranina feed on flies, worms, and the larvae of in- 

 sects, and will only take their prey when alive. They hybernate, bury- 

 ing themselves in the mud during winter. On an occasion, in mid- 

 winter, a bushel of torpid frogs were taken out of one hole under a 

 mass of roots beside a spring, near the summit of the mountain. 

 The water of the spring having the mean temperature of the earth 

 here, which is far above the freezing point, kept them from being de- 

 stroyed. They gave no signs of life when exhumed and thrown into 

 the snow. 



