170 THE CHANGEABLE TREE-TOAD. 



" My acquaintance with this interesting reptile (which had already passed throu| 

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



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

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

 three Green 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 torquatd), 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 suit- 

 able opportunity would make a leap at the 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 favorite a very large ' blue bottle,' almost as large as himself, 

 but nothing daunted, he caught it in his mouth and endeavored to swallow it, though 

 in vain, for had I not been there I verily believe that he would have been choked. 



Before he changed his skin, which he did now and then, his color 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 extraor- 

 dinary 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 discolored, being instead of green a sort of yellow. And thus ends my tale." 



The color of this species is green above, sometimes spotted with olive, and a grayish 

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

 fainter, and is at last lost in the green color of the skin. In some specimens there is a 

 grayish spot at 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 TREE-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 color 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 colors cannot be described. It is usually 

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

 in color, 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 favorite resting- 

 places, probably because the insects congregate on such trees. 



