THE BATRACHIA OF NORTH AMERICA. 345 



Eange. As they scarcely swim, when surprised tbey seek refuge in the 

 edge of the water, with so little movement as to render their capture 

 no easy matter. 



This species commences its season early. I have heard the swamps 

 of the barrens and thickets of southwesteru New Jersey resound with 

 them as early as the twentieth of March, when a skim of ice cov- 

 ered part of the water. I have also heard it in other level paris of the 

 same State later in the season, and in the lower part of Chester County, 

 Pa. Its note resembles that of the Acris in being crepitant, and differs 

 from the toned cry or whistle of the Hylfe. It is not so loud as the former 

 and Is deeper pitched; it may be imitated by drawing a point strongly 

 across a coarse comb, commencing at the bottom of a jar and bringing 

 it rapidly to the mouth; or, better, by restraining the voice to the separ- 

 ate vibrations of the vocal cords, and uttering a bar of a dozen or twenty 

 vibrations, beginning with the mouth closed and ending with it well 

 opened. 



The spotted form, called by Professor Agassiz Rylodes maculatus, pre- 

 sents the following characters. The description is made from Professor 

 Agassiz's typical specimen. 



This variety is of much the same delicate form as Triseriatus. The 

 head is small and narrow. The limbs are short ; the tibia two-fifths the 

 length of the body. 



The tongue is ov al, nearly as wide as long 5 rather thicker than usual; 

 free behind, and scarcely, if at all, emarginated. The teeth are in two 

 very small circular patches, each situated within and but little behind 

 the internal nares: separated by a wider interval than usual. The 

 tympanum is small and inconspicuous, not half the diameter of the or- 

 bit ; the distance between the anterior canthi of the orbits is barely 

 more than half that between the rami of the lower jaw, which is a little 

 less than the chord of the ramus. 



The fingers and toes are cylindrical, truncate, and rounded at the tips ; 

 not dilated, but somewhat knobbed. The outer finger is longer than 

 the third; the first is directed nearly at right angles with the third, 

 and considerably removed from the others. The outer toe is longer 

 than the third ; the web is confined to the intervals between the meta- 

 tarsals, except a slight development between the bases of the fourth 

 and fifth. A rounded tubercle at the base of foot on each side. Body 

 everywhere granulated except on the interior surfaces. 



The ground color is of a brownish-ash above, with crowded and 

 elongated blotches of darker arranged irregularly, or not serially, as in 

 most other varieties ; a dark stripe on the side of the head through the 

 tympanum and extending to the shoulder, and in one specimen an 

 elongated blotch on the side of the body may almost be considered a 

 prolongation of the same. There is the usual light line along the edge 

 of the jaw, extending to the arm. The limbs are blotched above, but 



