173 



CAROLINA TOAD. 



Rana Lentigiiiosa. JR. griseo fusco irrorata, capite subacuminato. 

 Grey Toad, freckled with brown, with subacuminated head. 

 Land-Frog. Cto6. Caro/. 2.^/. 69. 



This very much resembles the common toad 

 in its general appearance, but has a smaller head 

 and sharper snout. Its motion . also is not that 

 of crawling, but leaping. Its colour is a dusky 

 brown, paler beneath, and it is all over mottled 

 with minute blackish or dark brown spots : the 

 irides of the eyes are red. This animal is common 

 in Carolina and Virginia, feeding, like most others 

 of this genus, on insects, and is said to be parti- 

 cularly attracted by any luminous insects, as fire- 

 flies, glow-worms, &c. and will even seize and 

 swallow a small live wood coal of the size of the 

 end of the finger ; mistaking it for some lumin- 

 ous insect, and seeming to receive no immediate 

 injury in consequence. These animals are said to 

 be most common in wet weather, but are very 

 frequent on the higher grounds, and appear in the 

 hottest part of the day, as well as in the evening. 

 They vary somewhat in colour, being deeper or 

 paler in different individuals. 



