120 Strecker — Toads from Southeastern Texas. 



in the pineland at Clarcona and the hummocks bordering Lake Jessup." 

 Mr. C. S. Brimley says that at Raleigh, N. C, the narrow-mouthed toad 

 breeds from May to August. "I can get them from May on in warm, 

 damp weather. ' ' This species is confined principally to the humid division 

 of the Lower Austral Life Zone. The other two species are inhabitants of 

 the dryer portions of the same zone although the range of texense extends 

 into the humid division. 



Engystoma texense. — The following interesting extract is from a letter 

 from J. D. Mitchell dated March 8, 1909: 



" Here is a sight I witnessed on the 20th of February, in the Guadalupe 

 River bottom, Victoria County : Under a log, in a depression 12 x 16 inclies 

 and 3 inches deep were two Ancistrodon contortrix (adults), one Rana 

 pipiens, one Hyla squirella, one Hyla cinerea, two Engystoma, three 

 Bufo valliceps, two Enmeces quinqiielineatus, one Leiolepisma later ale and 

 between 500 and 1,000 crickets about one-third grown. One toad was 

 within the folds of one of the snakes and none of the toads, frogs or 

 lizards were over eight inches from the snakes and the crickets covered 

 the whole business. Verily, cold weather, like politics, makes strange 

 bed-fellows. The crickets hopped and scattered, ,but all of the others 

 remained quiet in their winter forms until handled. The stomachs of the 

 moccasins were perfectly empty." 



In December, 1903, at Laguna, Falls County, the writer found a num- 

 ber of examples of Engystoma texense under logs lying along the edge of 

 a lagoon, in button-willow thickets. Under these logs were also speci- 

 mens of Rana pipiens, Hyla cinerea, and Amby stoma microstomum . In a 

 strip of oak woods on the east side of the Brazos River, not far from Waco, 

 narrow-mouthed toads are rather common during the fall and spring 

 months. They are usually found under logs and dead stumps that are 

 deeply imbedded in the ground. From two to four examples are usually 

 found in the same place. 



On May 20, 1897, I found great numbers breeding in company with 

 Chorophilus triseriatits Wied and Bufo debilis Girard, in water-filled 

 sinks on the mesquite prairie about two miles west of the city of Waco. 

 During the spring rains the water-filled ditches along the railroad tracks 

 in East Waco are much frequented by these toads. Here, at night, their 

 sharp, buzzing notes are interspersed with the louder cries of Scaphiopus 

 couchii and Bufo debilis, forming a rather unmusical chorus. 



