60 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



FAMILY RANIDJE. 



Body short and broad. Feet {in the young) wanting ; afterwards four, the hind ones long, 

 formed for leaping and svmnming. Tail {in the young) long, compressed ; afterwards 

 wanting. No ribs; vertehrce. few. Tympanum open. Respiration at first aquatic by 

 gills, afterioards atmospheric by lungs. Gills at first external, but withdrawn within the 

 chest before the metamorphosis. Impregnation after the exclusion of the eggs. 



Tliis family corresponds with a part of the order Caducibranchia of Bonaparte, and entirely 

 with the order Anoura of Bell. It also agrees with the family Ecaudata of Oppel, the order 

 Salicutia of Merrem, and a part of the order Mutabilia of Gray. 



GENUS RANA. Linneus. 



Upper jaw with a row of minute teeth ; a transverse interrupted row in the middle of the 

 palate. Tongue large, fleshy, notched behind, where it is alone movable. No post-tym- 

 panal glands. Hind legs long, palmated; four toes before, fve behind. Young, with 

 elongated bodies, and gills ; without feet, and with a long compressed tail. 



THE BULLFROG. 

 Rana pipiens. 

 plate xix. fig. 48.— (state collection.) 



Rana pipie}is. LiN. Syst. Nat. Lateeille, Hist. Nat. Rept. Vol. 2, p. 153. 

 Jt. id. Hakl. Med. & Phys. Res. p. 101. 



R. scapularis, (young.) Id. lb. p. 103. 

 R. mugims. DuHEB. & BiBRON, Vol. 8, p. 370. 



R. pipiens. HoLBKOOK, N. Am. Herpetology, Vol.3, p. 81, pi. 15; and Vol. 4, p. 77, pi. 18, 2d Ed. Stoker, Mass. Rep. 

 p. 235. 



Characteristics. Large. Head green ; body greenish olive, with dusky blotches ; legs spotted 

 or barred. Length 6 to 12 inches. 



Description. Body robust, smooth. Head very large. Nostrils lateral, very small, mid- 

 way between the snout and orbits. Eyes large and prominent. Tympanum large and rounded, 

 resembling a scale attached to the side of the head. Mouth large, with numerous minute 

 acute teeth in tiie upper jaw. Tongue large and fleshy. Fore feet short, robust, with four 

 short toes; the one next to the exterior longest ; all with small tubercles at the joints. Hind 

 legs long, more then twice the length of the fore legs. Under surface of the thighs partly 

 granulated. Toes largely webbed, with tubercles at the joints ; the one next to the exterior, 

 longest. 



Color. Body dusky with a greenish hue, and varied with irregular darker blotches. Head 

 green above ; throat yellow or yellowish while ; lower jaw white ; upper jaw green. Pupil 



