HYLA VERSICOLOR. 103 



Habits. This animal is commonly found on trees and about old stone fences, 

 overgrown with mosses and lichens, the colour of which it so closely resembles 

 that it frequently escapes observation, even when sought for. It very commonly 

 chooses old and decaying Plum trees for its abode, probably because the insects 

 on which it feeds are most abundant in such situations. It is very noisy towards 

 evening, in cloudy weather, or before rain, its voice consisting of a liquid note, 

 terminating abruptly, like 1-1-1-1-l-l-luk. At the close of spring, and during great 

 part of the summer, when the Toad has become silent, this note may be heard, 

 especially in the evening, from various shallow pools, to which the animal 

 resorts for the purpose of depositing its spawn. Harlan* mentions an instance of 

 one being dug up at the root of an apple tree, during the winter season, several 

 feet beneath the surface of the ground. 



General Remarks. The verrucose body of this Hyla and its rounded shape, 

 give it the appearance of a Toad; the skin also is moist and viscid, exuding an 

 acrid fluid, which has led many persons to believe it poisonous; and certainly the 

 secretion afforded by the glands of the cutaneous organs is more acrid than that 

 given off by any other Toad or Frog which we have seen in a living state. 



It is remarkable that an animal so common and so very noisy should have 

 so long escaped the attention of Naturalists. The first mention made of it is in 

 Kalm's Travels in North America: he however only describes its habits, and refers 

 to the R. arborea of Linnseus, to which it bears but a slight resemblance. Leconte 

 was certainly the first who minutely and accurately described it, and established 

 its claim to be considered as a new and distinct species. 



* Medical and Physical Researches, p. 109. 



