122 Frogs of the Okefinokee Swamp 



(l) 26.5 mm. Ripe. Underparts generally light throat slightly darker. 



Width 15 mm. 

 (??i) 27 mm. Throat dark extended on pectoral region and front belly as a 



triangle, the base of the triangle on the throat. 

 (n) 27.5 mm. Ripe. Stripe down back almost bluish-white in alcohol. 



Under parts unspotted. 

 (0) 28 mm. Solid black throat, heavily black spotted breast. Spent, 

 (p) 30 mm. Ripe. Width 18 mm. Underparts uniformly light. 

 (q) 30-S mm. Dark throat and vestee. Spent. 14.5 mm. wide, 

 (r) 31 mm. Throat dusky. Middle of pectoral region with several big 

 black spots. Width 20 mm. 

 8. In general it seems that males are revealed externally as such at 19 mm. or 

 higher and females at 20.5 mm. or higher, that this is two years from trans- 

 formation, i.e., the oak toad goes through two winters after transformation 

 before breeding. 



Duration, day or night. In 192 1 almost the instant, April 25, we entered 

 the swamp the boys brought us a cf oak toad. But it was not until May 16-2 1 

 we began to record the females. On the latter date we noted that ''in the 

 afternoon after the rain we started for turpentine still. Heard and saw Bufo 

 quercicus. Picked up two, one a gravid female". Later "went to old and new 

 hogshole. Heard a few males in the water. They all stopped except one which 

 I could not find. On May 25 we took 2 males and 2 females." 



On May 26 we made the following journal notes: "In pipewort, sedge and 

 grass places at 10:00 a. m. found a female Bufo quercicus. Hear males in the 

 woods. Is B. quercicus actually going to the ponds soon? B. quercicus calls 

 are more lively and insistent. Have taken four or five this morning. Females 

 are about more since last night's thunderstorm. Are females bound for any 

 particular place on this piney island? They are moving somewhere. Does it 

 mean the onset of breeding? In burnt-over area it seemed as if more were 

 present. Possibly they are easier to find in this area. Found 3 cf s and 39 s. 

 Males not in holes. Am getting so I can locate them easier. Returned to 

 camp to find that the boys had taken 6 Bufo quercicus from the hammock 

 west of camp. One male mated with another, made a terrarium for the oak 

 toads. Now all 12 or 14 are out of sight in sand except two. They back into 

 ground". 



On June i we were still puzzling about them per the following: "An oak 

 toad beside a log; very hght in color; can squeeze into small space and freeze. 

 It was near a ditch. Found two oak toads by a log near the trestle but still on 

 dry ground. They are a pair but not mated. Will they go to water separately 

 or mate on the way without rain or mate with first rain? Now have a plenty 

 of them, 15 or 16". 



Only three days later, June 4, many of our queries were answered. About 

 two inches of rain dropped and the island seemed teeming with oak toads (see 

 Ovulation for account) . They bred almost everywhere. All about the cleared 

 fields, in piney woods, in hammocks, and numerous other places we found oak 

 toads that day. In one pond heard plenty of male oak toads amongst saw 

 palmetto. We saw lots of Bufo quercicus croaking on floats, one on a pine cone 

 in the water, others on logs, sticks, etc." "In one case a little cf oak toad 



