JONES ON REPTILIA OF NOVA SCOTIA. 123 



swampy districts, lakes, and ponds, where its peculiar note, like a 

 half broken croak, is heard all day long. Sitting at the edge of a 

 pond, with its head only exposed, it expands its throat at intervals 

 and gives vent to the well known sound. If suddenly disturbed 

 it instantly dives beneath the surface, and if the water be shallow 

 buries itself beneath the mud and leaves at the bottom. It delights 

 to spend the warm days of summer m company with its fellows, 

 partially immersed in the water, but in the hottest and dryest 

 weather disappears entirely during the day time. I have no doubt 

 but that these hottest days are spent beneath the mud, for I have 

 seen one of my Newfoundland dogs when diving in play bring one 

 up alive to the surface on such a day. I observe that this frog 

 croaks oftener and louder in close wet weather, and that a slight 

 frost has the effect of making it silent. It is rarely seen at any 

 distance from water, and immediately makes for that element when 

 disturbed. It is pretty regular in its appearance in spring, but 

 moves from its winter retreat sooner or later, according to the tem- 

 perature of the season. In 1862 I heard the first croak of this 

 species in my pond on April 27th; in 1863, on April 25th; in 

 1864, on April 25th ; and this year, 1865, on April 6th, and these 

 first croaks were invariably heard at night. I observed the first 

 spawn in the pond in 1863, on May 3d; in 1864, on April 30th; 

 and this year, 1865, on April 10th. Their early appearance and 

 deposition of spawn this year has been owing to the extreme for- 

 wardness of the season, vegetation being fourteen to twenty days 

 earlier than during the four previous years. It attaches its spawn 

 to small twigs or sticks at a moderate depth beneath the surface of 

 the water, and I have reason to believe that the act of deposition 

 occurs only durmg the hours of night. The tadpoles of this species 

 hibernate in the mud Hke the parent, and appear about the same 

 time in the spring of the year, some of them full grown, but with 

 the umbilical cord attached. 



Rami halecina, Kalm Leopard Frog. 



R. halecina — Holb., N. Amer. Herpet, iv., 9, 91, t. 22. 



R. Virginiana — Lawr. Syn. E-ept., p. 31. 



This is by far the handsomest species of frog seen in ISTova Scotia. 



It is generally found in moist places, although I have occasionally 



taken specimens some distance from water among standing grain. 



