50 



Bufo lentiginosus, Shaw. 



Toad. 



'Bufu lentiginosus, Shaw, 1803, 71, iii, 173; Boulenger, 1882, 27, 308; 

 Cope, 1889, 51, 277 and 289, with figures. B. musicus, Holbrook, 1842, 

 S4, V. 7, pi. 1. 



Var. americanus. Bufo americanus, LeConte, 1838, 53, i, 75, pi. 9; 

 1842, 54-, v., 17, pi. 4; B. lentiginosus, var. americcmus, Boulenger, 1882, 

 27, 309; Cope, 1889, 51, 284, with figures. 



Ysir. foivleri, B. lentiginosus fouieri, Putnam, 1889, 51, 279, with figures. 



Form of body heavy and awkward. Head furnished above with more 

 or less conspicuous bony crests. Of these, two, the fron to-parietal, run 

 backward from the snout to the back of the head and embrace between 

 them a furrow. Immediately behind the orbits each of these is met at 

 ■right angles by a crest, the postorbital, which runs outward and down- 

 ward behind the eye. From the lower end of the postorbital, a ridge, 

 ithe supra-tympanic, may pass backward over the tympanic disk. 



Snout short and blunt, the outline in front of the nostrils perpendicu- 

 lar. Tympanic disk distinct, oval, smaller than the eye. Upper jaw 

 notched in the middle line. Paratoids elliptical, about as long as the 

 distance from the nostril to the postorbital crest. Heel reaching to the 

 eye or less. Toes half- webbed. Two metatarsal tubercles; the outer 

 .small, the inner large and with a cutting edge. 



Skin on the upper surface everywhere provided with large and small 

 pointed warts; below rough with crowded, pointed granulations. 



Color variable ; usually olive to brown, with irregular blotches and 

 spots of dark brown ; middle of the back with a light streak ; below 

 >dirty yellow. The upper surface is sometimes almost a uniform black ; 

 .^t other times ash-gray, showing the dusky spots with great distinctness. 

 •Occasionally a specimen is found with the tubercles, and even considera- 

 ble portions of the skin of a beautiful pink color. Other specimens may 

 he of a uniform brick-color above, pink below. 



Males provided with a large vocal sac, which communicates with the 

 anouth by a slit on each side of the tongue. The toad may reach a length 

 of as much as five inches, including head and body. Females larger than 

 4he males. 



Four varieties, or subspecies, of this animal are recognized by Prof. 

 Oope, three of which may be looked for within our borders. They may 

 be distinguished as follows : 



Fronto-parietal crests lying closely together, parallel, posteriorily pass- 

 ing little if any beyond the postorbitals. No supra-tympanic crest ; a pre- 

 orbital ridge. Heel reaching beyond the muzzle. Size rather small. 

 Color grayish-olive ; vertebral line yellow. fotvleri. 



