422 HULLETIN :{l, UNITEO STATES NATIONAL MUSKUM. 



Illclll M. 



Total length ','. iltl 



Arm from elbow 1 . 'JO 



Fomiir 1. 10 



Til.iii 1.10 



Tarsus 7(! 



Foot I. If) 



Illrlll'H. 



1.00 Tdtalof liiiid fool, J. 70 



.10 Chord of lu'iid 1. M 



.17 Width of li.-ad 1.10 



.17 ! Tympanum 1/ 



.W Eye :W 



. U) 



. ■17 



.ii; 

 . in 



Female {('url'mle, I'ti.). 

 Total ;!.:iO 1.00 Total of lo}; r.. 00 l.,M 



Femur I.Tm 



Tibia I..'-..') 



. 17 Tympanum IW 



• ■17 



U) 



A Cixrlislo, Til., specimen, when living:, was colored a.s follows: Al)ov«i 

 and on sides, greenisli-biown, with rounded brown spots iinilbrnd.v dis- 

 tributed, and about as lar^ic as the pupil of the eye; about twenty be- 

 tween tlio lateral folds; head and body anteriorly bright giass-ji'reen ; 

 beneath },'rcenish-white, unspotted, the color of the sides fading? into it ; 

 the buttocks mottled with brown and yellowish white; femur and Ici;- 

 with three or four traiisverso dark bands; fore limbs with scattcn'd 

 blotches not banded ; iris black, mottled with };()lden. 



The specimens from I^ake Superior arc typesof the 7»*. nigricans of Pro- 

 fessor Agassiz, which I can not distiufjuish. They exhibit a {ireatcr 

 amount of black mottlin{>' and blotches on the inferior surface than usual, 

 but this is shared by individuals from more southern localities. Speci- 

 mens from IMaine and Louisiana are still darker, the buttocks beinj,' 

 nearly uniform black. 



In carefully comi)arinn; quite a number of specimens from the South 

 and North, I (ind it imi>ossible to establish dellnite characters by which 

 to distinguish a Ii. foufinalis from I\. dninaUi. At first sight the 

 Southern individuals, which happened all to be of mediuni size, ap- 

 peared to bo more free from the coarse pustulations; but on the other 

 Imnd to have the line asi)erities more numerous and closer an<l the head 

 rather narrower; but the same conditions were seen in some North- 

 ern si)ecimens. The tympanum is very large in the males, though vary- 

 ing with the individuals. As in the Northern specimens, some are 

 nearly immaculate; others mottled above and below, and of various 

 shades of color, from black above to olivaceous.* 



This is csi)ecially a species of an aquatic life, not hunting on land, 

 but haunting all kinds of waters, from si)rings to river banks. It lives 

 singly, in pairs, or in small companies, but never in swarnys like the 

 R. vircsccns. It is not noisy, contenting itself with an occasional nasal 

 "chung,"and frequently uttering a sharp cry as it plunges into the 

 water to escape the pedestrian on the bank. It is a good leaper and 

 swimmer. 



* Professor Haird had an opportunity of examiuing tlio upecimcns from which Dr. 

 Ilolbrook made his description and tigure of 11. chimitans without Hooiug occasion 

 to clinngu the oitinion ahovo expressed. 



I. 



< I ' 



