242 bufonim:. 



The breeding period is a much protracted one, 

 although beginning later than that of any other species, 

 the edible frog excepted ; for it may last until July 

 or August, or even September, as observed by Arthur 

 de l'lsle in Brittany. In Belgium I found the species 

 breeding in the end of April, in May, and in June ; in 

 France as early as the beginning of April and as 

 late as July and the first days of August. On the 

 coast of Cheshire, Mr. L. Greening has observed the 

 oviposition at the end of May and early in June, and 

 the British Museum has received from the Warrington 

 Museum a specimen from Southport, Lancashire, 

 labelled as having spawned on April 24th, 1889. In 

 Germany it is said to spawn from the middle of April 

 to the end of June. The season seems to be at its 

 height between the beffinnino- of May and the middle 

 of June. 



Bufo calamita, is a bad swimmer, aud usually resorts 

 to the water only at night, not venturing far from the 

 borders ; pairs are found in embrace in the daytime in 

 holes on the banks of ponds or among reeds (hence 

 the name calamita, from calamus, reed), where they 

 betray their presence through their very loud croak, ra, 

 ra, ra, consisting of a single vibrating note. Choruses, 

 audible at a distance of a mile or more, are produced 

 after sunset. The male, when clasping the female, digs 

 the closed fists into the axils, like the common toad, 

 but the embrace is of much shorter duration, the eggs 

 being laid in a few hours during the night. If there 

 are reeds or other weeds about, the egg-strings are 

 twined round them ; if not— for this toad often spawns 

 in small puddles without vegetation, or in roadside 

 ditches — the paired strings are simply stretched along 

 the clay or sand at the bottom, where they resemble, 

 as Heron-Royer observes, a diminutive railway. The 

 evolution is rapid, and the young usually quit the 

 water five to eight weeks after the eggs have been 

 deposited, measuring only 7 to 10 mm. from snout to 

 vent. In Hardwicke's 'Science Gossip ' for 1872, 



