HYLAVIRIDIS. 97 



seasons they may be seen on the ground on their way to pools of water; they are 

 then exceedingly active, leaping at times ten or twelve feet. 



Geographical Distribution. For the present we must set down latitude 33° 

 on the Atlantic coast as the northern limit of the Hyla viridis; thence it extends 

 through Georgia, Florida and Alabama to Mississippi, but I have no evidence of 

 its existence further west. 



General Remarks. The first notice of the Hyla viridis now under considera- 

 tion is in Catesby's History of Carolina, &c.; he there calls it the green tree 

 frog, and gives a very good detailed account of its habits, accompanied with a 

 tolerably accurate drawing. 



Linnseus seems to have regarded this animal as a variety of the common Rana 

 arborea, which he says, incorrectly, however, inhabits both Europe and America. 



The next account of the Hyla viridis is found in the Synopsis Reptilium of 

 Laurenti, who first separated the genus Hyla from that of Rana. He called the 

 tree frog of Europe Hyla viridis, and considered the tree frog of Catesby as a 

 variety under the same name. Now, the specific name of viridis cannot be used for 

 the tree frog of Europe, inasmuch as Linnaeus and other Naturalists had previously 

 imposed upon it that of arborea; and this leaves the specific name viridis unapplied, 

 and consequently it may be used for our animal, as given it by Laurenti, who 

 seemed to consider it as very distinct from the common tree frog of Europe; nor 

 can there be any doubt of his meaning, for he refers expressly to Catesby's 

 seventy-second plate of the second volume, saying, " Corpore tereti, linea, utrinque 

 flava, sed recta, distinguitur clamore, tschit, tschit, tschit, dum nostro (Hyla 

 arborea) clamat ra-i*a-ra."* 



The next account of the Hyla viridis is in the supplement to Pennant's Arctic 



* Laurenti, Synops. Rept, p. 33. 

 Vol. m.— 13 



