FAMILY IV. HYLID^: THE TREE FROGS' 



THE COMMON TREE FROG 

 Hyla versicolor Le Conte 



Identification Characteristics 



Colour: Varying through many shades of green, brown, or 

 grey. An oblique dark band on the top of the head, above each 

 eye; a large dusky patch on the upper back, often star-shaped. 

 The arms and legs are transversely barred. All of the dark 

 markings may be indistinct or lacking. (See Plate XX, also 

 Frontispiece.) A light spot below the posterior half of eye. 

 Underparts light, bright orange-yellow posteriorly. Concealed 

 leg surfaces vermiculated with brown. 



Measurements: Length 2 inches. Head short and broad; 

 body stout. Ear two-thirds size of eye. The leg to the heel 

 measures the length of the body forward to the eye. 



Structure: Skin covered with relatively coarse tubercles. 

 Undersurfaces granulated, less conspicuously on the throat. 

 Prominent fold of skin across breast. The disks on fingers and 

 toes are large. Web of hind foot well-developed. Fingers 

 slightly webbed. (See Figs. 134 to 142.) 



Range: Throughout eastern North America west to Kansas, 

 northward into Canada, and southward into Texas. 



Probably more familiar than any other member of the batra- 

 chian group, if we except the common toad, is this entertaining 

 little acrobat of the frog world. (Figs. 134 to 137.) Some June 

 morning when we are admiring the blue flowers of the clematis 

 that climbs the porch, we see what looks like a yellowish white 

 oval of putty plastered against the white pillar shaded by the vine. 

 It is our Common Tree Frog (or Tree Toad, as it is called) sound 

 asleep. 



Late some July afternoon we sit reading by the porch window. 

 Something seems to fly from the vines to the window. With 



1 Refer to pp. 7, 9 and 46. 



117 



