20 BULLETIN 160, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



No glandular enlargement on post-tympanic region; a supra- 

 scapular dermal enlargement above and in front of tympanum; 

 parotoid glands generally absent, or small and indistinct; skin 

 of upperparts rough, with scattered low tubercles, more closely 

 spaced on sides and shoulders than elsewhere; light-colored 

 supra-anal spots smaller and generally indistinct; vomerine 

 teeth in two clusters behind or at level of posterior margin of 

 choanae; tyinpanum large, more than half the diameter of the 

 eye, but anterior margin often indistinct; canthus rostralis 

 rounded; head rounded anteriorly, depressed or flattened 

 between the eyes; cephalic ossification complete; skin of under- 

 parts slightly roughened, smoother anteriorly; fingers in order 

 of decreasing length, 3, 1, 2, 4; palm smooth except for two 

 large metacarpal tubercles; fingers free; first and second fingers 

 black and horny internally in breeding males; heels not meet- 

 ing when legs are flexed; foot large, web strongly scalloped, the 

 fourth digit having the two distal phalanges bordered by dermal 

 fringes; sole smooth except for large external metatarsal tubercle 

 with black cutting edge; color pattern of upperparts irregular, 

 asymmetrical, but with intricate arrangement of spots, or net- 

 work of brown bands; upperparts variable in color — green, 

 olive, or brown — and streaked, spotted, or blotched more or 

 less irregularly with some shade of yellow; a dark V-shaped 

 interorbital band; pustules black or yellow; underparts light 

 colored; fore and hind limbs barred or spotted with some 

 darker color; head-and-body length of adults, 65 mm couchii (p. 20) 



SCAPHIOPUS COUCHII Baird 



Couch's Spade-foot Toad 



1854. Scaphiopus couchii Baird, Prcc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 7, p. 62, 

 Apr. — Baird, 1859, Report on the United States and Mexican Boundary 

 Survey, vol. 2, Reptiles, p. 28, pi. 35, figs. 1-6. 



1863. S [caphiopus] rectifrenis Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 15, 

 p. 53, Mar. (Tamaulipas; Rio Nazas, Coahuila). 



Type locality. — Rio Nazas, State of Coahuila, and Matamoros, 

 State of Tamaulipas, Mexico. 



Range. — In Mexico from Matamoros south westward through the 

 States of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and San Luis Potosi to Acaponeta in 

 Nayarit. 



According to Strecker,^ Couch's spade-foot toad inhabits the entire 

 Rio Grande Valley from Brownsville to El Paso, Tex., and, although 

 its range in Texas is still imperfectly known, it does not appear to 

 range east of the 96th parallel. The northernmost record is 50 miles 

 south of Fort Worth. 



Remarks. — Baird gave Coahuila and Tamaulipas as the habitat 

 of *S'. couchii, but neglected to cite the catalogue numbers of the co- 

 types. Cope, however, in revising this genus in 1863 removed one 

 (U.S.N. M. No. 3714) of Baird's original cotypes of S. couchii and 



< Strecker, J. K., Notes on the life history of Scaphiopus couchii Baird. Proc. Biol. Soe. Washington, 

 vol. 21, pp. 199-206, Nov. 24, 1908. 



