84 Frogs of the Okefinokee Swamp 



after rain, and not previously noticed, the inference is not so strange that they 

 came to the earth with the rain, or that there had been a shower of toads 

 as well as of water." 



In 1905 Fowler (1906, pp. 92, 93) writing of New Jersey forms gives, "the 

 following notes are on an example which I received from Mr. James A. G. 

 Rehn, during August of 1905. As it was brought alive from Palatka, Florida, 

 by Mr. Rehn I give it place only as a foot note. — This toad has a very peculair 

 habit of attempting to dig backwards by means of the black-edged spur on 

 the hind foot, which it will rub rather fast and with good force against the 

 palm if held in the hand. By a similar process it sinks into the ground or 

 among grass. The eyes can be depressed considerably and give the head quite 

 a different appearance if the animal is annoyed. It progressed usually by 

 short hops or leaps, though sometimes crawled or walked slowly a few steps. 

 In repose the usual position is to squat flat, and if then disturbed to inflate 

 the flanks greatly. When held in hand it uttered a note similar to the call of 

 Rana clamata, which may be said to resemble somewhat a smothered rattle 

 or trill of rather harsh and low tone. The throat is inflated, though not very 

 abnormally. This note seems to be due rather to discomfort than anything 

 else. In captivity I could not induce the specimen to eat." 



W. T. Davis (1908, pp. 48, 49) gives the following observations on spade- 

 foots at Lakehurst, N. J., in 1906 and 1907. "During the heavy storms of 

 August I and 2, 1906, Mr. Louis H. Joutel observed many of these toads at 

 Lakehurst, N. J., in a depression temporarily filled with water. Their dis- 

 cordant notes could be heard a long distance. On July 20, 1907, I found at 

 Lakehurst two partly grown individuals that had fallen into a cemented 

 drain, up the steep sides of which they could not climb. On August 1 7 another 

 was found in the same drain, and still another at the bottom of a shallow well 

 that had become nearly dry. On October 12, 1907, with Professor Wm. M. 

 Wheeler and Mr. G. P. Engelhardt, we found a somewhat larger individual 

 in the same cement-lined drain. One of these toads was kept alive some time 

 and fed on flies, but died after being fed on green flies. Mr. Engelhardt also 

 had a frog die suddenly after it had devoured meat flies. The spade-foot toad 

 has also been found on Staten Island." 



Dr. Frank Overton (1914, pp. 29, 30) who unselfishly introduced the frogs 

 and toads of Long Island to the naturalists of Greater New York, just as 

 earlier W. T. Davis did the same for some of the rarer species of New Jersey, 

 has in recent years given more attention to spadefoots than any naturaUst in 

 the North. From him we cull excerpts under several topics. He writes thus: 

 "Spadefoot toads are considered to be rare, and few detailed observations of 

 them have been made. Dozens of them suddenly appeared in a temporary 

 pool near the Bay Avenue school building in Patchogue during the first week 

 of April, 191 2, after a series of hard rains. April seventh was warm and pleas- 

 ant, and the toads were noisy all day. The temperature fell below freezing in 

 the evening, and all the toads disappeared until the sixteenth, when the air 

 again became warm, and a number reappeared from that day only. The tem- 

 perature again fell in the evening, and no more spadefoots were heard until 



