Strecker — Notes on the Robber Frog. 81 



Scaphiopus couchii 



B. & G April 10 to May Permanent ponds, tem- 



30. As late porary pools, water- 

 as July in dry filled hollows in city 

 years. yards. 



Scaphiopus sp. 8 April 13, 1910. Temporary pool. 



Rana catesbeiana Shaw April 1 to Waco creek, permanent 



May 10. marshes and ponds. 



Rana pipiens Schreber. ...April 11 to Marshes, ponds, small 



May 15. creeks. 

 Rana sphenocephala 



Cope No date for Waco. 



April 14-15, Deep holes in Paluxy 



1909. creek, Somervell 

 County, Texas. 



It must be taken into consideration that many of our 

 species breed in temporary pools and that the time of 

 their going into the water depends entirely on the amount 

 of rainfall we get in early spring. Earlier dates for some 

 of the species have been recorded from more northern 

 localities, but this discrepancy in dates and latitude is 

 something that I am unable to account for. Some frogs 

 can stand a comparatively low temperature, but moisture 

 is most essential to them under all conditions. In the 

 north in early spring the ponds and water-courses are 

 filled to overflowing as a result of the winter sleets and 

 snows, but in Texas we usually get the greatest amount 

 of rainfall early in the autumn and in the months of 

 April and May. In the plains country in Western Texas 

 (Hale and Garza Counties), Bufo cognatus Say and the 

 Tiger Salamander Ambystoma tigrinum Green rarely go 

 into the water before July. 



The adult Lithodytes latrans presents a rather unusual 

 appearance for a frog, on account of its proportions and 

 its peculiar method of elevating the body. Younger 

 specimens have much shorter limbs and do not look so 

 odd. At times the species is sluggish and rather easily 

 captured, but as a rule retreats into caves and fissures 

 at the slightest alarm. Its voice is a short dog-like bark 



8 A new species related to the solitary spadefoot (S. holbrookii Harlan) to 

 be described later. 



