2cS(; 



lUrLLHTIX ;!l, UMTKl) STATK.S NATIONAL MI'SKI'M. 



t'l'ii localities, vi/ : No. 2'){)r> from Uiicine, Wis., and U.">(>7 IVom Essex 

 County, N. Y. They arc also (iliaracterizcd by the presence of a supra- 

 tympanic crest and by the coarseness of their tuberculation. They 

 have no distinct dorsal spots, a dark line round the bases of .sonic of 

 the tubercles representing" them in sonu^ individuals. 



There are also several color varieties of this subspecies. They are not 

 unfrequently met witli entirely black (var. A), as, for example, from Penn- 

 sylvania and ]\richi<;an. In two or three from the latter rejj^ion the foot 

 is as short as in short -footed var. woodhousei ; in one the superciliary 

 iid,nvs are continent in acurveil transverse rid^e. A singular abnor- 

 mality (Xo. 2r»l-t)(var. P.), fi'om Moose River, IJritish America, isdistin- 

 j;uished by its yellow, orange, or i)iidcish j^round color, with thedorsji! 

 and lateral spots conlluent into lonjjitudinal bands more or less broken ; 

 warts pink tipped; average size below tyi)ical ; skin smoother. On 

 this variety was i)roiiosed the liii/o vopci of Varrow and Ilenshaw. 



Var. C — A yellow ground with broad brown bands, having only yel- 

 low lines running outwardly and ]»osteriorly ; on top of these the usual 

 brown sjtots are well distinguished. The cranial ridges are highei', 

 thicker, and more nearly i)arallel than usual. Specimens are of large 

 siy.e; they are from South Fork of the Yellowstone, Nebraska. Total 

 length, t inches 1 hue; length from end of muzzle to postorbital ridge, 

 1 1..") lines. 



Habitat. — Southeastern Labrador, htckard, Proceed. Post. Soc. Nat. 

 Hist., 1800; Moose Itiver, IJritish America, Ihcvlrr; South Fork Yel- 

 lowstone, i/«//(/t'H ; Kansas, JIaUonrU, Proceed. Ac. Nat. Sci., l^hila., 

 l.sr>0, L'51, and the Eastern and Austroriparian rej,Mons of North Amer- 

 ica generally. 



Dwellers in the country are familiar with the voice of this species 

 in the early spring", which is the season of the deposit of eggs. These 

 are laid imtlosed in a long, thick-walled tube of tianspai'cnl albumen, 

 secreted by the walls of the oviducts. These, tubes lie in long spiral 

 strings on the bottoms of the ponds where they are dei)osited. The 

 young hatch out early, aiul are of a darker color than those of others of 

 our Salientia. They retain the dark color till near the time of the com- 

 pletion of the metamorphosis. This takes t)lace at an earlier date than 

 that of the Jvana', and the completed young are scarcely as large as 

 tho.se of the Hyhe or of the Scaphiopus. The voice of this si)ecies 

 may be heard well into the summer. It is a sonorous ur r-r-r-r r, which 

 may be readily imitated by whistling whih^ one utters a deep-toned 

 vocal sound expressed in the: above letters. Iinlividuals dilfer in tin; 

 pitch of their notes, but a chorus of them has a weird sound well belit- 

 ting the generally remote spots where they congregate, and the dark- 

 ness of the hour. When not thus engaged, they often take uj) their 

 abode beneath the doorstep of the farmer's house, and issue in the even- 

 ing to secure t..eii' insect food. Tlu'y progress by hops, ami only walk 

 on very rare occasions. 



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