446 CLASS REPTILIA. 



a level ground, it makes leaps of from six to eight feet in 

 length. 



It would seem that this species has been confounded with 

 the ocellata, clamitans, and gi'unniens, in consequence of the 

 Anglo-American name, bull -frog, which is common to 

 them all. There is another frog mentioned by Bartram, 

 called the 6e//-frog, and which is provisionally referred by 

 Daudin to this species ; its voice exactly resembles the sound 

 of one of those little bells hung to the neck of cows. They 

 usually croak in bands, one commencing and another reply- 

 ing ; the sound is then repeated from troop to troop, to a 

 very considerable distance, during some minutes ; this sound 

 increases or diminishes according to the intensity of the wind ; 

 it afterwards ceases almost altogether, or is prolonged in the 

 distance by other troops which reply to the first. It is 

 momently renewed, and when the ear is accustomed to it, 

 it is found not to be altogether devoid of harmony, though 

 at first it appears troublesome and disagreeable to strangers. 



The rana grunniens, if it be distinct from the preceding 

 species, is at least fully at large ; Daudin thinks that it has 

 been seen by Bartram in Florida and in Carolina, in humid 

 marshes, and on the banks of lakes and great rivers, where 

 it sends forth a strong and unpleasant sound, very much 

 resembling the grunting of a pig, but not so sonorous as that 

 of the pipiens. 



This enormous frog is also called in English, bull-frog, and 

 is improperly named crapaud by the French colonists in the 

 West Indies. It is found in most of the western isles, where 

 it has been very accurately observed by M. Moreau de 

 Jonnes, and it has been called a toad, because it inhabits 

 shady and humid places, as toads do in France and elsewhere, 

 and not stagnant waters like the frogs. 



It does not quit its retreat until night. Its strength is so 

 great that it can clear in a leap a wall five feet high. In the 



