22 



FEOGS. 



The hermit spadefoot toad " appears suddenly after prolonged rains 

 in April and May or sometimes June or July. At the Breeding season 

 it is fond of sprawling out on the surface of the water as a wood frog 

 does; and it is from this position that it croaks. This species gathers 

 in large breeding assemblies like toads, and the matin^s are as 

 spirited. The male seizes the female just ahead of the liind legs 

 (mguinal fashion), a fonn of embrace not known in any other Ameri- 

 can forms except in the narrow-mouthed toads and possibly AscapJius 

 iruei of Washington. 



The same form of embrace (PI. XI, fig. 4) and dependence on rains 

 seems to hold true of Couch's and Hammond's spadef oots of the south- 

 west and west, where the writer has observed their breeding habits. 

 In these regions, after long droughts; these creatures and other 

 species of toads at night almost literally pour down from the moun- 

 tains or in the desert to any temporary streams (Pi. IX, fig. 1), pools, 

 or "tanks," and their strange choruses can sometimes be heara from 

 one-half to a mile away. The croaks of the Couch's spadefoot 

 are given from the edges of swift-flowing, temporary streams or 

 ponds and resemble the mewing of a cat. The males of Hammond's 

 spadefoot float more or less on the surface of the water and, like the 

 hermit spadefoot, dip the posterior portion of the body as they croak. 

 Sometimes when both species are breeding in the same place at the 

 same time cross embraces between the species ensue. 



Undesirable Species. — In the undesirable species such as tree 

 frogs, like the peeper and tree toad (Hyla), the cricket frog (Acris), 

 and the swamp cricket frog (Pseudacris), the mating embrace is 

 axillary (PI. XI, fig. 3), and any mated pair with such a form of em- 

 brace is an undesirable species, unless it be the possible form, the toad. 

 The narrow-mouthed toads ((jastropliryne) have the inguinal form 

 (PI. XI, fig. 4) of embrace, and no desirable form normally mates in 

 this way. The possible form, the hermit spadefoot (Scaphiopus) 

 does mate in this manner, and sometimes a weakened male toad 

 (Bufo) 'svith normal axillary embrace or a weakened male frog (Eana) 

 with normal pectoral embrace may seize a female just ahead of the 

 hind legs (inguinal fashion) in lieu of the normal embrace. 



Several experimenters have suggested that to rear frogs for the 

 market one could best start with eggs easily procured in nature. 

 This apparent ease, however, has often led people to work with un- 

 desirable stock; and even some of the experimenters themselves have 

 not been absolutely sure to which species of frogs the eggs belonged. 

 With certain precautions as to the identity of the material, it is a 

 convenient point at which to begin the work. It is, however, higlily 

 essential that one know the undesirable frogs and their eggs — the 

 tree frogs, swamp cricket frog, peeper, cricket frog, and the large 

 tree frogs; the narrow-mouthed toad; and the oak toad; and also 

 the possible forms — the wood frog, other smaller frogs, the toad, and 

 the spadefoot. 



Desirable Species. — In the early spring the leopard frog is the 

 second true frog to begin ovulation. It prefers cat-tail swamps 



o Overton, Frank: Lon? Island fanna and flora. The frops and toads. Mnseiim, Brooklyn Instituto of 

 Arts and Sciences. Scienfo Bulletin, vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 2S-:jO. The author wishes to thaaik Dr. Overton 

 and the Brooklyn Museum for the generous loan of I'l. IV, fig. 1, and PI. XVllI, fig. 4. 



