large parotoids, larger outer sole (metatarsal) tubercle, its coarser, 

 less even and less pointed tubercles, blunter and lower cranial crests, 

 the usual absence or indistinctness of the parietal ridge, and less 

 distinct color pattern. 



Structure: Interorbital region smooth, decidedly concave, shal- 

 lower in front than behind; crests pronounced — the canthus rostralis 

 is a prominent crest beginning ahead of and above the nostrils and 

 ending at the anterior corner of the eye, where it forks into two ridges, 

 a broad preorbital and a well defined supraciliary crest which curves 

 around the eye, sending off a prominent supratympanic ridge to the 

 parotoid and a very short postorbital; parietal crests absent, in- 

 distinct or poorly developed; large broad head, box-snouted; parotoids 

 huge, as long as head or bigger, 4/5-1 1/8 times the head; parotoids 

 widely divergent behind; toes 1/2-2/3 webbed; free inner meta- 

 tarsal tubercle; outer metatarsal tubercle large and flat; a thin edged 

 tarsal fold from inner metatarsal tubercle backward; prominent 

 palmar pads at base of first and second fingers; eyelid finely tubercu- 

 late; two rows of large fleshy warts down either side of mid-dorsum to 

 vent, more prominent in male. Back of angle of mouth the skin is 

 divided into two or more vertical folds so that at times it might be 

 thought a postrictal gland. However, it is not like the white wart 

 of Bufo alvarius. ' 



Voice: Taylor and Wright heard them at Zapata, Texas, but did 

 not describe their call. P. H. Pope in Bermuda holds they have. a 

 more resonant and louder call than Bufo americanus^ — "a deep 

 booming trill." 



Breeding: In Bermuda from February to July is the breeding 

 season, April being the optimum month. In Trinidad they breed from 

 August to October, in Demerara, from mid-April to September, 

 possibly also from November to January. The eggs are in strings. 

 Dr. E. L. Mark had some hatch in 68 hours. The black tadpole trans- 

 forms after 45 days or less. The males have the tops of first two 

 fingers with excrescences, and excrescences on the inner side of third 

 finger and the inner palmar tubercle. Some males have warts and 

 tubercles brown and spiny-tipped. 



Notes: Most of the records of food mention beetles and cock- 

 roaches. These toads have been introduced into sugar plantations to 

 control insects and one of the recent introductions to be watched with 

 interest is a recent shipment of live giant toads from Porto Rico to 

 Hawaii. It is known that the secretion from the parotoid and possibly 

 from some warts is poisonous to an animal which might seize this 

 toad in its mouth. A dog will die quickly of paralysis after mouthing 

 one of these toads. In the same way, birds, dogs, and other animals, 

 injected with this poison, will die. 



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