190 , Expedition to the 



collection of insects at Engineer cantonment, recognised a 

 considerable number of them, told which inhabited the water, 

 and which the land, and noticed many little anecdotes of 

 their manners with much accuracy; with respect to some, 

 however, which he pointed out, he entertained strange no- 

 tions, doubtless in common with his countrymen. Our larg- 

 est species of dytiscus, he said, sometimes entered the womb 

 of a pregnant squaw, and destroyed the foetus. The large 

 green grasshopper with a pointed head, (Truxalis) he said, 

 would seize the nipple of a squaw with its mouth, and would 

 not quit its hold until the body was torn from the head.- 



29th. The sun arose with renewed splendour, and usher- 

 ed in another sultry day. Two of the horses, which had been 

 presented by the chiefs, ran off, and were observed to rise 

 the bluffs and disappear; men were despatched in pursuit of 

 them, who after a long and fatiguing chase, returned about 

 noon, unsuccessful. We reconciled ourselves as we might 

 to this privation, and after dining, proceeded onward. The al- 

 luvial margins of the river are gradually dilating as we de- 

 scend, and the mosquitoes, which have of late visited our 

 camp but sparingly, are now increasing in number. 



A fine species of toad (Bufo*) inhabits this region. It re- 

 sembles the common toad (B. viusiciis. Daud.) but differs in 

 the arrangement of the colours, and in the proportional 

 length of the groove of the head, which in that species ex- 



* Bufo cognatus. Fuscous, with cinereous lines; head canaliculate, 

 groove abbreviated before 



Body above dark brownish, papillous; the papillae and their discs 

 black, ihey are more numerous, prominent, and acute on* the sides and 

 legs, not prominent on the back; a vertebral cinereous vitta, from which 

 an oblique, cinereous, irregular line is drawn from the vertex to the side 

 behind the anterior feet; another double one from the middle of the back 

 to behind the middle of the side, and another from behind thv niiddie ol ttie 

 back to the posterior thighs; sides and legs with irregular cinereous linr.s; 

 head with a groove, ivhich hardly extends anteriorly to tlip line of the 

 anterior canthus of the eyes; verructe behind the eyes moderate; superior 

 maxilla emarginate; beneath granulated. 



Length from the nose to the cloaca, 3 3-4 inches. 



A specimen is placed in the Philadelphia Museum. 



