186 A NATURE WOOING. 



bis, P. glabratus Say, is also secured from the side of 

 a ditch. 



A large spotted frog leaps from before me and 

 alights with a plunk in the water of the ditch. I 

 scoop it out with my butterfly net, and find it to be 

 the southern form of the common leopard frog, Eana 

 virescens Kalm. The head is longer and more pointed 

 than in northern examples, and there is no lengthwise 

 band on the front of femur. Cope has given the 

 name splienocephala to this long-headed variety. 

 While mostly southern in its range, it has been found 

 in the cypress swamps of Knox County, Indiana. 



Though I have been on the lookout for rattlesnakes 

 during my rambles about Ormond, I have not hap- 

 pened upon a single specimen. To-day, however, I 

 saw one in captivity which was captured near here a 

 week or so ago. It is a small specimen of the diamond 

 rattlesnake, Crotalus adamanteus Beauvois. This is 

 the common rattlesnake of Florida, and is said to 

 reach a length of eight feet. Many improbable tales 

 are told hereabouts of this reptile. Mr. Bennett avers 

 that an average of one person a year dies in this (Yo- 

 iusia) county from its bite. Probably one in a 

 dozen years would be nearer the truth. He states also 

 that he killed an old snake and twelve young, which 

 were accompanying her as chickens follow a hen. 

 Another citizen of the town afiirms that he has seen 

 the bodieis of two black snakes which, when cut open, 

 disclosed rattlesnakes which they had swallowed. One 



