133 



MERIAN FROG. 



Rana Meriana. R. nibfta^escens fusco -cariegata, tesicis auricu- 



laribia svbconicis. 

 Yello\vish-green Frog, variegated with brown, with subconical 



auricular vesicles. 



Rana Americana vesicaria. Seb. Mus. 1. 1. l\.f. 1, 2, 3 ? 

 Eared Frog. Merian Surin. pi. 56. 

 Rana arborea maxima. Sloan Jam. 



THIS, which in the Gmelinian edition of the 

 Systema Naturae is placed among the supposed 

 varieties of the Rana arborea, or common Tree 

 Frog, must, if any reliance be placed on the 

 figures and descriptions of Madam Merian and 

 Seba, be a very distinct species. Indeed the very 

 circumstance of its having the hind feet web- 

 bed, would alone be sufficient, if other circum- 

 stances were wanting, to prove it entirely dis- 

 tinct. It appears to be nearly thrice the size of 

 the Rana arborea, and is of a greenish brown 

 above, variegated by several differently formed 

 spots, veins, and patches of yellowish green ; and 

 on each side of the neck is a very remarkable pro- 

 tuberance, resembling an obtusely conical, in- 

 flated pouch. The figures of Seba and Merian, 

 though slightly differing as to the minuter cir- 

 cumstances of the exact distribution of spots and 

 colours, agree in this particular ; and the descrip- 

 tion given by Sloane, in his History of Jamaica, 

 expressly mentions this feature. This animal is 

 sometimes found on trees, and sometimes in the 

 water; according to the different periods of its 



