654 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE YOSEMITE 



Slender Salamander. Batrachoseps attenuatus (Eschscholtz) 



Field characters. — Body slender and worm-like, 14 inch or less in diameter; legs and 

 feet very small and weak; but four toes on each foot; side of body with 19 (18 to 20) 

 crosswise grooves. Middle of back dark brown; sides and under surface blackish, with 

 many minute freckles of silvery white. 



Occurrence. — Eecorded definitely only at Snelling; to be expected in western foothills 

 of Sierra Nevada, below 3500 feet altitude. Lives in moist places such as the interior 

 of decayed logs, beneath rocks, and in the burrows of small rodents. 



The Slender Salamander gains a place in the Yosemite fauna on the 

 basis of one record. At Snelling, on January 8, 1915, an old rotted log 

 half buried in river-washed debris was broken open by one of our party, 

 and 3 of these salamanders were found inside. Two others were discovered 

 in slight depressions in the ground beneath the log. In the interior of 

 this same log was found a group of about 15 small eggs, each of which 

 was in a gelatinous capsule to which was attached a slender thread of 

 similar material. The size and form of the eggs, their situation and the 

 time of year at which they were found, all suggest that they were eggs 

 of this salamander. Unfortunately the eggs were not preserved, nor was 

 their identity established with certainty at the time. 



The presence of the Slender Salamander at so low a station as Snelling, 

 in the Lower Sonoran Zone, while not an unique occurrence, is decidedly 

 unusual. The possibility suggests itself that the animals found there had 

 been transported while in the log, from some up-river locality, during a 

 period of high water. 



Western Spade-foot Toad. Scaphiopus hammondii hammondii Baird 



Field characters. — Total length 2% inches or less; hind foot with a black sharp-edged, 

 cutting "spade" on inner margin of the smooth sole (pi. 60c.); pupil of eye vertically 

 elliptical in outline. Coloration above light gray with irregular small markings of dark 

 gray or black; under surface of body plain yellowish. 



Occurrence. — Moderately common east of Sierra Nevada in vicinity of Mono Lake. 

 Lives below ground in sandy situations, coming forth at night and during rainstorms. 



The Western Spade-foot Toad occurs in some numbers in the vicinity 

 of Mono Lake, but as no especial search was made for it we have only a 

 few specimens to record. On July 22, 1915, near the southwestern shore of 

 Mono Lake, one individual was captured as it hopped out of a hole in the 

 sand during a thunder storm. In the season of 1916 the species came first 

 to attention on May 5 when two individuals were captured in ' ' auto-baited ' ' 

 mouse traps set in a meadow near Williams Butte. The traps were so placed 

 that the toads could not have blundered into them, so it seems likely that 



