Premium Services      Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) Hand-colored etching by Mark Catesby from his drawing From: M. Catesby, The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands: containing the figures of birds, beasts, fishes, serpents, insects and plants…. 2nd ed., revised by George Edwards. Vol. 2 of 2 (London, 1771) NYPL, Rare Books Division

The deep-throated early summer mating call of the male Bullfrog can often be heard near New York City's ponds, lakes, and streams. Its scientific name, Rana catesbeiana, honors Mark Catesby (1683–1749), the British-born naturalist and artist who depicted the Bullfrog, with a Yellow Lady Slipper, and many other native animals and plants, in the earliest and most famous American natural history book illustrated with colored plates. Largely self-taught, both as artist and printmaker, Catesby came to the southern colonies to study and depict the local flora, but then shifted his attentions to the native wildlife. More than half of the more than 200 illustrations depict birds, with the remainder devoted to fish, mammals, reptiles, and insects. In most of the illustrations Catesby paired the animal with either its food plant or its botanical habitat.