170 THE CHANGEABLE TREE-TOAD. 



" My acquaintance with this interesting reptile (which had already passed through all 

 the stages of the tadpole state) began in the following manner : 



1 was at school in Hanover at the time, and used frequently to take walks in the 

 neighbouring woods, with a companion. During one of these walks we came across three 

 Green Frogs (or rather they came across our path). Guessing at once they were Tree- 

 Frogs, and thinking that they were just the things to keep, we were ' down upon them,' and 

 tied them up in our handkerchiefs. I contented myself with one, and let my companion 

 have the others. When I arrived safely at my journey's end with my Frog, I procured for 

 him a good-sized glass jar, put a little water in the bottom, a branched stick for him to 

 climb up (though, he generally preferred the sides of the glass), covered the top of the jar 

 with a piece of muslin, and installed him on a shelf with a salamander (Salamandra 

 maculosa), a ring snake (Natrix torquata), and various other ' pets.' 



My great amusement was to watch the little creature eat. When I put a fly into his 

 jar, as long as the fly remained quiet, the Frog took no notice of it, but directly the fly 

 began buzzing about, the Frog would wake up from his lethargic state, and on a suitable 

 opportunity would make a leap at lite poor fly, adroitly catch it in his mouth (though he 

 sometimes missed his mark), and, I need hardly add, swallow it. On one occasion, I gave 

 my little favourite a very large ' blue-bottle,' almost as large as himself, but nothing 

 daunted, he caught it in his mouth and endeavoured to swallow it, though in vain, for had 

 I not been there I verily believe he would have been choked. 



Before he changed his skin, which he did now and then, his colour became much darker 

 and looked more dirty, and he went into quite a torpid state, but when the event was over, 

 he appeared greener and livelier than ever. One day, after I had had him some time, I 

 was playing upon the pianoforte, when I was astonished by an extraordinary sound, but 

 on looking round I discovered the cause of the great noise, for there was my Frog swollen 

 to an immense extent under the chin, and croaking in a very excited manner, making quite 

 a loud noise. I mention this circumstance because it has been imagined that a solitary 

 Tree-Frog will not croak, but mine certainly proved to the contrary, for though the first 

 croaking was evidently the effect of the piano, yet he would frequently croak after that 

 time without being excited by any apparent noise whatever. I may here mention that the 

 noise of a quantity of Frogs croaking and nightingales singing, has frequently kept me 

 awake for a considerable time during a spring night. 



And now comes the most melancholy part of my story. Leaving my Frog carelessly 

 on the window-sill, I went to school ; when I came back there was the glass certainly, and 

 the Frog also, but oh ! distressingly melancholy to relate, the water was quite hot from the 

 intense heat of the sun, and the poor Frog was scorched, or rather boiled to death he was 

 quite discoloured, being instead of green a sort of yellow. And thus ends my tale." 



The colour of this species is green above, sometimes spotted with olive, and a greyish 

 yellow streak runs through each eye towards the sides, where it becomes gradually fainter, 

 and is at last lost in the green colour of the skin. In some specimens there is a greyish 

 spot on the loins. Below, it is of a paler hue, and a black streak runs along the side, dividing 

 the vivid green of the back from the white hue of the abdomen. 



The CHANGEABLE TKEE-TOAD is a native of many parts of America, being found as far 

 north as Canada, and as far south as Mexico. It is a common species, but owing to its 

 faculty of assimilating its colour to the tints of the object on which it happens to be sitting, 

 it escapes observation, and is often passed unnoticed in spots where it exists in great 

 numbers. 



This is a curious and noteworthy species, as it possesses the capability of changing its 

 tints to so great an extent that its true colours cannot be described. It is usually found 

 on the trunks of trees and old moss-grown stones, which it so nearly resembles in 

 colour, that it can hardly be detected, even when specially sought. The skin of this 

 creature will in a short time pass from white through every intermediate shade to dark- 

 brown, and it is not an uncommon event to find a cross-shaped mark of dark-brown between 

 the shoulders. Old and decaying plum-trees seem to be its favourite resting-places, 

 probably because the insects congregate on such trees. 



