PICKERING’S TREE TOAD. 107 
marshes thus early in the season, and he therefore thought ‘that the 
animal “had hybernated in that situation. Whether they spend the 
winter in mud or old logs, they are found in marshes in early spring, 
where they lay their eggs. Afterwards, in the latter part of April or in 
May, they betake themselves to the woods. 
The Tree Toad is also reported to be useful as a barometer. It is said 
that, if they are placed in a tall jar, with a ladder in“it, in fair weather 
they will climb towards the top, but descend on the approach of a storm. 
How true this may be, not having tried it, 1 have no means of judging, 
and shall refrain from expressing any opinion on the subject. 
HyLA PICKERINGII Holbrook. 
Pickering’s Free Toad. 
Hylodes pickeringit, HOLBROOK, STORER, DEKay. 
Hyla pickeringti, LECONTE, COPE, JORDAN. 
Color quite variable at the will of the animal: in general, reddish brown to fawn 
above, with lines and spots or specks of darker, arranged upon the back in the form of 
a, cross; upper lip yellowish; legs above with transverse dark bars; posterior of the 
body with a dusky blotch; under parts white, with numerous dark spots; gular and 
inframaxillary region yellowish; dark markings upon the animal often becoming in- 
distinct ; eyes large ; pupils black ; irides goiden ; tympanum small; nostrils small, nearer 
the muzzle than the eye; inner nares more widely separatd than the outer; a, trans- 
verse fold of the skin connecting the fore limbs on the under side; body rather slender; 
hind jegs long; femur a trifle shorter than the tibia; thighs granulated beneath. 
Length, 1 inch; head to axilla, 10 lines; hind leg, 14 inches; fore leg, 64 lines; 
transverse diameter of head, 4 lines; vertical diameter of head, 24 lines; transverse 
diameter of body, 44 lines. 
Habitat, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, 
Michigan to Cook county, Llinois. 
I have not seen this species from the State, and have included it here 
solely on the extent of its extralimital range. It is found on bark of 
dead trees and on leaves, such as Indian corn and grape vines, and in 
green-houses. It has been observed in Maine to deposit its eggs in water 
in April, and at other seasons occurred in upland or damp woods among 
fallen leaves. 
FAMILY RANIDA. THE FROGS. 
Posterior feet much longer than the anterior, in length exceeding the body; fingers 
four; toes five, simple, undilated at tips and broadly palmate; skin smooth; parotoids 
none ; tongue large, fleshy, attached in front, emarginate and free behind ; vomero-pal- 
atine teeth present; maxillaries, a single row in the upper jaw; ear well developed ; 
tail in young long and compressed ; sacral diapophyses cylindrical; epicoracoid present ; 
cuneiform bone somewhat prolonged, but not forming a spur; animals aquatic in the 
main, inhabiting every region of the globe. 
