APPENDIX. 101 



ON HYLA SQUIRELLA A BATRACHIAN,— NEW TO THE PROVINCE. 



{See Proceedings, Page 2.) 

 In my paper on the Reptilia of Nova Scotia, read before the Institute in May, 1865, 

 the only species of tree frogs then known to be inhabitants of the Province were pub- 

 lished as Rgla versicolor a.nd Hijlodes Picker ingii. Through the assiduity of Mr. Arthur 

 Silver, I am now enabled to add another species to the list, riz. : the Squirrel tree Frog, 

 or Little Peeping Hyla (Ryla squirella). 



It appears t'^at this little frog is very widely distributed over the North American con- 

 tinent. It has been traced as far north as the State of Massachusetts. Storer included 

 it in his report upon the zoology of the State. He, however, appears never to have seen 

 one in a living state, and only made his remarks upon a dried specimen which had been 

 taken atRoxbury. We should therefore consider ourselves fortunate in being able to add 

 to our number a form which would appear to be rare in the northern portion of the Uni- 

 ted States. It is common in the Southern States ; but Dr. Holbrook, who published some 

 years ago an elaborate work upon North A.meri. an Herpetology, considered the north- 

 ern form to be a distinct species from that of the south. Dr. Gunther, the compiler of 

 the catalogue of Salient Batraeliians in the collection of the British Museum, who is con- 

 sidered our most able herpetologist, places the New York and Georgian animals together.- 

 We must therefore conclude that, if any difference exists between them, it is too slight to 

 allow of a separation to be made. The northern squirella, however, is somewhat smalier 

 in size than the southern. Le Conte states that it is generally found under logs and 

 bark of decaying trees, but in the case of our Nova Scotian specimen it differed in habit, 

 being found resting on a leaf. Le Conte, however, most probably procured specimens in 

 autumn, when the tree frogs were taking to winter quarters, and this may account for 

 his finding his specimens under logs and bark of trees, — positions which would never be 

 resorted to by arboreal species possessing fingers and toes terminating in rounded viscous 

 pellets especially suited to a life among foliage. 



The tree frogs reside habitually among the foliage of trees, among which they hop and 

 leap almost with the agility of the birds that tenant the groves conjointly with them. — 

 They are able to cling to the leaves on wliich they alight with exact precision, and to 

 walk on them in all positions, and even on their under surfaces without falling off, — ^just 

 as a fly alights on the ceiling of a room, and rests or crawls there. Each finger and t«e, 

 for so we will name the digits of the fore and hind feet, is dilatea at the tip with a circu- 

 lar pallette or pad, varying in size in different genera ; these little cushions are, it is true, 

 moistened with a glutinous fluid, as is the whole surface of the body; but this gluten has 

 been proved not to be the only means by which the frog is enabled to cling to perpendi- 

 cular or other singular positions ; but that the pallettes act as suckers, being sustained 

 in their position by the pressure of the atmosphere, a vacuum being produced beneath 

 them, or removed at the will of the animal. 



The tree frogs differ not only in size and general appearance from the frogs proper* 

 but also in the formation of their cuticle. The skin of the under surface, instead of beiug 

 smooth as in our common [green frog for instance, is covered with granular glands, 

 pierced by numerous pores, through which the dew or rain spread on the surface of the 

 leaves is rapidly absorbed into the system, and reserved to supply the moisture needful 

 for cutaneous respiration. In connection with this system of respiration some curiona 

 facts have been brought to light by experiments with tree frogs kept in confinement. A 

 tree frog, taken from its cage and placed upon a board sprinkled with water, has been 

 seen to apply its body as close as possible to the moist parts, and from this absorption, 

 though in an emaciated state before, has become plump. A frog that had not been al- 

 lowed to enter water during the night was weighed and then imnicrsed. After it had 



