204 Strccker — Notes on Life History of Scaphiopus couchii Baird. 



In former years I have known specimens of Couch's spadefoot 

 to come out of their burrows on rainy days as early as three 

 o'clock in the afternoon, and during the present year I cap- 

 tured examples as late as ten o'clock in the morning. After 

 the breeding season is over it is only occasionally that one will 

 run across a specimen out of its burrow. 



Judging from the published accounts of the habitation of 

 Scaphiopus holbrookii, I should say that the burrow of our species 

 was similar in every respect. On account of its abundance it 

 is not an uncommon occurrence for a gardener to unearth four 

 or five examples during the course of a single morning's work. 

 The truck gardeners know the animal as the " green burrowing- 

 toad." 



In her excellent account of Scaphiopus holbrookii Miss Dicker- 

 son makes the following remarks: 'After the eggs are laid the 

 spadefoot toads disappear entirely, leaving no trace of their 

 hiding place. In fact it is not known whether they burrow in 

 low land where temporary pools are likely to form, or whether 

 they go a considerable distance into higher land before they 

 burrow. At any rate these facts are well authenticated: they 

 disappear with never a stray one behind, and they may not 

 reappear again in the same locality for years." * 



In reply to these remarks I can state with certainty that our 

 spadefoot does burrow in the neighborhood of its breeding places. 

 I have on several occasions unearthed both adult and young 

 specimens within a few yards of a pool in which hundreds of 

 tadpoles had undergone their transformation. 



Our species appears in numbers as regularly as the year comes 

 around, and my note book shows an unbroken record for the 

 period from 1895 to 1908. In some years the animals seem 

 more abundant than in others. 



I have known them to go in the water as early as the tenth 

 of April, but in 1905 they were unable to find suitable breeding 

 places until the latter part of July. As a usual thing, however, 

 the majority 1 treed during the month of May. 



This year I found eggs at three different times within a period 

 of seven weeks, which proves conclusively to my mind that all 

 of our spadefoot toads do not breed at the same time. 



* The Frog Book, Now York, 1906, pp. r>r>-, r >t'>. 



