1868.1 187 [Allen. 



* 



specimens. Not having been in Si^ringfield at the proper time since, 

 these are the only instances of their occurrence known to me. Speci- 

 mens collected here in 186G were deposited by the writer in the Spring- 

 field Natural History Museum, and in the Museum of the Essex Insti- 

 tute.i 



The character of the season seems greatly to determine the time of 

 the appearance of these animals, for they rarely, if ever, appear ex- 

 cept after long-continued rains, during which the fall of water has 

 been sufficient to saturate the ground thoroughly, and to form pools 

 in situations ordinarily dry. If the spring opens with heavy rains, it 

 is not uncommon for them to appear during the last of March, or 

 early in April, often before the snow is gone ; if dry they are not seen 

 till later, and if no heavy rains occur during the spring or summer 

 months, as sometimes happens, they are not seen at all that year. If 

 sufficiently heavy rains occur in May, or even in June, or in July, and 

 not previously, as happened one year at Springfield, they may be ex- 

 pected even then. The present year, remarkable for its wetness, seems 

 fully to demonstrate this, no less than four sets of the Scapliiopus hav- 

 ing been observed at Cambridge. The first, few in numbers, apjjeared 

 during the few warm days that occurred about April 1st; the second, 

 much more numerous, April 15th; the third May 14th, and the fourth 

 May 22d; each during, or immediately following, very heavy falls of 

 rain. They were observed not only at the old locality near the 

 Botanic Garden, but in several others, including the pond west of the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology, and another east of it, formed by 

 the temporary inundation of the marsh in Mr. Norton's woods. It 

 takes but a few weeks for the young tadpoles to mature, the eggs 

 generally hatching in from five to seven days, and the young being 

 ready to leave the water in about three weeks; yet the popls selected 

 by the Spadefoot for the home of their offspring often become dry 

 before the tadpoles are fully grown, and they consequently perish, — so 

 that ordinarily but a small part mature. The wetness of the present 

 year was not only favorable for their spawning, but also for the develop- 

 ment of the young, so that the increase of the. Spadefoots must 

 have been unusually large. 



This species was first discovered by Dr. Holbrook in South Caro- 

 lina, and first described by him in his North American Herpetology 



1 For the first announcement of the discovery of this animal at Springfield, see 

 Proc. Ess. Inst., Vol. V, Records, p. 42. 



