BATRACHIA. 79 



R. temporaria, L. ; Roesel. Ran. pi. i, ii, iii. (The Common 

 Frog.) Reddish-brown spotted with black; a black band com- 

 mencing at the eye and reaching across the ear. This species 

 is the first that appears in the spring; it visits the land less fre- 

 quently than the preceding, and is not so noisy. Its tadpole is 

 not so large at the epoch of its metamorphosis. 



R. cultripes, Cuv. Every where sprinkled with black spots; 

 feet simply palmate; particularly remarkable for a horny and 

 trenchant scale which invests the vestige of the sixth toe. From 

 the south of France. 

 Among the Frogs foreign to Europe we may remark, 



R. paradoxa, L. ; Seb. I, Ixxviii; Merrian, Surin. LXXI; 

 Daud., Gren. XXII, XXIII (The Jakie), whose tadpole ac- 

 quires a size previous to its complete metamorphosis greater 

 than that of any other species of the genus. The loss of an 

 enormous tail and the envelopes of the body, causes the adult 

 animal to be smaller than the tadpole, a circumstance which 

 induced the earlier observers to believe that it was the Frog 

 which was metamorphosed into a tadpole, or, as they express- 

 ed it, into a Fish. This error is novir completely refuted. 



The Jakie is greenish spotted with brown, and is particularly 

 distinguished by irregular brown lines along its thighs and legs. 

 From Guiana. 

 There are several other Frogs foreign to Europe, some of which 

 are very large and not well determined.(l) Such is 



R. pipiens, L.; Catesb, II, Ixxii. (The Bull-Frog.) Green 

 above, yellowish beneath, spotted and marbled with black.(2) 

 The hind toes of certain species are almost without a web, but 

 still very long.(3) 



(1) A closer examination and a review of the numerous Batrachians received at 

 the Museum within a few years, compel me to recal my approbation of the work 

 of Daudin. It is imperfect, and half the figures are taken from altered specimens, 

 and can never serve as guides to the precise determination of species. His Hylae, 

 however, must be excepted; they are much better than his Frogs and Toads. 



(2) I am convinced that several species are confounded under this name in the 

 United States, species which are similar as to size and colour, but which, among 

 other characters, differ in the relative size of the tympanum. The one in which 

 it is largest is the mugiens of Merrem, but we cannot depend upon his synonymes. 

 The fig. of Daud. XVIII, with a yellow stripe along tlie back, is a species from 

 India. Add: R. palmipes, Spix, V, 1; — R. tigrina, Daud. XX; — R. virginica, 

 Gmel. Seb., I, Ixxv, 4, ov halecina, Daud., or pipiens, Merr., Catesb. LXX; — R. 

 clamitans, Daud., XVI. 



N.B. This last species is the young of the Bull-Frog. Am. Ed. 



(o) Rana ocellata, L. Seb. I, Ixxv, 1, Lacep. I, xxxviii, Daud. XIXj — i?. gigas. 



