MEXICAN TAILLESS AMPHIBIANS 43 



the plains and the foothills as a general rule, though it may be found 

 occasionally in the vicinity of streams and in bottomlands that are 

 subject to periodical overflow from some river. Although nocturnal 

 like most toads, it leaves its place of hiding during heavy showers, and 

 comes forth in search of food. ^ 



Say concludes his description of Bwfo cognatus with the following 

 statement: "A specimen is placed in the Philadelphia Museum." 

 This specimen is undoubtedly the type of this species and presumably 

 is the individual collected in July, 1820, in southeastern Colorado. 

 The "Philadelphia Museum"^ was established by Charles Wilson 

 Peale in 1784. The collections made by the expedition of Major 

 Long to the Rocky Mountains in 1819-1820 were deposited in this 

 museum on March 23, 1821. Peale's museum was incorporated as a 

 stock company in 1820 and continued in existence until 1846, when 

 financial difficulties forced the sale of the collections at public auction. 

 The natural-history collection, however, was kept intact and exhibited 

 in Masonic Hall, Philadelphia, until 1850, when Moses Kimball 

 bought one-half for the "Boston Museum," and the other half was 

 sold to P. T. Barnum's "American Museum" in New York City. 

 Barnum's "American Museum" was destroyed by fire on July 13, 

 1865. The bulk of the Boston Museum's share of the old natural- 

 history collection of the Philadelphia Museum passed into the posses- 

 sion of the Boston Society of Natural History in 1893 and the residue 

 in 1899. After this collection reached the society's rooms, some of the 

 specimens were destroyed, but most of the birds were sold to C. J. 

 Maynard in 1900. When the importance of this collection became 

 generally appreciated, the Boston Society of Natural History redeemed 

 it from Maynard. Again, in 1914, the remaining relics of this collec- 

 tion were transferred to the Museum of Comparative Zoology at 

 Harvard College. The possibilities for the loss of the type of Bvfo 

 cognatus during the numerous transfers of the collections of the old 

 "Philadelphia Museum," or while it was in the possession of either 

 Barnum's "American Museum" or Kimball's "Boston Museum," are 

 too numerous to leave any serious hope for its future recovery in 

 some unexpected depository. 



In 1876, Dr. F. V. Ha5^den, in charge of the United States Geological 

 and Geographical Survey of the Territories, authorized an investiga- 

 tion of the Judith River Lignite Formation. Prof. E. D. Cope was 

 placed in charge of the expedition that fitted out at Fort Benton, 

 Mont., for this exploratory survey. Among the published results of 

 this expedition is the description by Cope in 1879 of a toad, which he 



» Faxon, W., Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 69, no. 3, pp. 119-148, July, 1915. 



