BA TRA CHI A . 333 



presenting a curious ajipearance as they dragged tlieir large tails after them. I found 

 some adult specimens of Amblystoma muvortium also along the water's edge. Tiiese 

 observations were made on the 11th of August, 1876." 



The American species of this family are exceedingly noisy at the time of deposit- 

 ing their eggs. This takes place in spring, generally in temporary pools, even in 

 regions where water abounds. They frequently appear near inhabited places. Thus 

 I have heard the vacant lots of Santa Fe, New Mexico, resound with the cries of Spea 

 lumimondii, and similar places near Philadelphia vocal with the Scaphiopus holbrookii. 

 A ]iool near a hotel on Pyramid Lake, Nevada, was in an uproar at the time of my 

 visit in July, 1882, with Bufo boreas and Scaphiopits intermontaniis, — the voice of 

 the latter quite in the ascendant. 



The Scaphiojnis holbrookii appears quite suddenly and disappears equally so. Dur- 

 ing the remainder of the year it is concealed underground, and is therefore rarely 

 seen. Dr. Abbott thus describes its habits. 



" In a sink-hole in a dry upland field near Trenton, New Jersey, on April 10, 1884, 

 there suddenly i»|i]ieared a large colony of hermit spade-foot toads {Scap/iiopus hol- 

 brookii), which, by their remarkable cries, attracted the attention of every one passing 

 b}-. So unlike the cries of any other of our batraehians were their utterances, that 

 all who heard them were attracted to the spot, and wondered, when they saw the 

 animals, that so great a volume of sound could issue from so small an animal. One 

 need not wonder, however, on this point, if they will but examine the development 

 of the animal's vocal cords. The machinery for jirodncing sounds equal to an ordi- 

 nary steam whistle is apparently contained in the throat of this rare and curious 

 batrachian. Holbrook, in his diagnosis of the genus ScajMopus, refers to the ' subgu- 

 lar vocal sac' of the males ; but it must not be inferred that the females are voiceless. 

 That they are not so noisy is i)robable, but, occasion requiring, they can readily make 

 themselves heard. 



"These sjiade-foots remained in the shallow waters of this sink-holc' until April 15, 

 when, the weather becoming considerably cooler, they as suddenly disappeared as 

 they had come. In May, 1874, these toads ap))eared in like manner in the same 

 locality, remained but a few days, and were gone. In the intervening ten years not a 

 specimen was seen or heard, although careful search annually was made. I supposed, 

 when they appeared in April of the present year, that they sjiawned previous to their 

 sudden disa]ipearance, but I neglected to investig.'ite the matter in consequence of press 

 of work in other lines of investigation. The spade-toads were soon forgotten. The 

 wealth of bird life that came trooping in from the south during May, and their subse- 

 quent nesting, occupied my thoughts and were the prominent objects sought during 

 my ihiily rambles. 



" It was not long, however, before the spade-foots again became the prominent feature 

 of the fauna of the neighborhood. During the night of June 25-26 a violent noi-th- 

 east storm arose, and rain fell in torrents. The sink-hole, which for weeks had been 

 nearly dry, wa-s again flooded, and on the afternoon of the 26th was literally alive 

 with these rare toads. Sitting upon every projecting stick or tuft of grass, or swim- 

 ming with their heads above the surface of the water, were spade-foots by the hun- 

 dred, and every one ajiparently uttering those shrill, ear-piercing groans that only 

 these batraehians can utter. Not only during the day, but all night, their cries were 

 kept up. The following day there was no abatement, but iluring the night the sound 

 decreased. On the morning of the 28th not an individual was to be seen or heard. 



