48 Catalogue of the Reptiles of Connecticut. 



*39. Scaphiopus solitarius, Holbrook, Hermit Spade-Foot, 

 Stratford. 



# 40. Bufo Americanus, Le Conte, American Toad, common. 



*41. Hylodes Pickeringi, Holbrook, Pickering's hylodes, Strat- 

 ford and Northford. 



*42. Hyla squirella, Bosc, Little Squirrel Hyla, Massachusetts 

 and New York. 



*43. Hyla versicolor, Le Conte, Northern Tree Toad, common. 



Family SalamandridcB. 

 *44. Salamandra fasciata, Green, Banded Salamander, common. 



*39. My specimen was found floating at the mouth of the Housatonic by Master 

 D, Giraud and brought to me alive. The moisture or liquid that exuded from its 

 whole surface in twelve hours was almost incredibly great. It appears to corre- 

 spond with Dr. Dekay's description, page 66 of his Report, but the toes of its hind 

 feet being unlike his figure was a perplexity to me until I saw Dr. Holbrook's fig- 

 ure, which perfectly corresponds with my animal. It has all the peculiar marks 

 of the Scaphiopus. Dr. Dekay asserts that it is found in great numbers at Salem, 

 N. Y., which is near our state line, and it is therefore doubtless a denizen of Con- 

 necticut in other parts of this county. 



*40. I would here remark respecting our common toad, that a few years since in 

 autumn, when cutting down the tops of my dahlias, before removing the roots to 

 sand for winter quarters, I found a large swell in a stalk near the ground perfectly 

 closed, and without the least apparent orifice; but on cutting it open, out leaped 

 a living toad of ordinary size and perfectly well. The only solution I could make 

 of it was, that some insect must first have punctured the dahlia stalk, and in its 

 rapid growth a small hollow must have been caused, into which the toad while 

 young and small entered, and probably lodged for a day or so, and the rapid growth 

 of the plant held him there until it surrounded him, and accommodated its growth 

 to the incumbrance of the toad inside. But what supported the toad and thus 

 increased his size, is not so plain. 



*41. I have two fine specimens of this little lump of animal matter, presented 

 me from Northford by my brother, Mr. John S. Linsley, of that place, where he 

 took them. Mr. Wm. O. Ayres informs me that it has also recently been taken 

 in East Hartford. 



The Hylodes grillus, (Cricket hyla,) has according to Dr. Dekay been taken 

 near New York, but I have not learned of its being yet found in New England, 

 and have therefore omitted its insertion here. 



*42. The little peeping hyla, called also squirrel hyla, has been taken in Rox- 

 bury, Mass. and near New York, as announced in the interesting Reports of Dr. 

 Storer and Dr. Dekay. Dr. Holbrook however considers it exclusively a southern 

 species, and if so, was probably introduced from thence to the northern and east- 

 ern states. 



*43. The tree toad is found in every town in Connecticut, as far as I am ac- 

 quainted ; and its hoarse guttural cry is always considered an indication of rain, 

 as I have for many years observed. 



*44. Of this common species of salamander I have many specimens, no two of 

 which are alike in their bands, but still so near alike as to make it certain they are 



