ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



405 



resents a species of pronounced subterranean 

 habits — the spade foot toad, Scaf'hiol^HS 

 liaininondi. 



It is to Mr. Cliarles A. \'an Zandt, of 

 Butte, ^Montana, that the Society is indebted 

 for the opporttuiity of examining the interest- 

 ing specimen. During mining operations, 

 Mr. \'an Zandt was sinking a shaft into Hme- 

 stone formation. At a depth of 150 feet, 

 during progress through apparently solid rock, 

 the toad was exhumed. ^Ir. \'an Zandt per- 

 sonally took the specimen to his home and 

 placed it in a porcelain crock. Here it re- 

 mained for seven months, refusmg all food. 

 A representative of Air. \'an Zandt coming to 

 New York reported the matter to Dr. Louis 

 P. Gratacap, Curator of Mineralogy in the 

 American ^luseum of Natural History. Dr. 

 Gratacap considered the matter so extraor- 

 dinary that he at once referred the matter 

 to the Park with the result of communication 

 with Mr. \'an Zandt. 



The spade-foot toad is yet living in the porce- 

 lain jar, in which he has contentedly nestled 

 for eight months. He steadily refuses food, 

 but appears to be vigorous and in good health. 

 He is much paler than the normal specimens — 

 his colors having possibly faded from his im- 

 prisonment — as to the duration of which we 

 have no idea. Animals that normally dwell 

 in perfect darkness — like those frequenting 

 under-ground rivers — are always practically 

 colorless, but their pale hues are the result 

 of extended evolution. It would be purely 

 theoretical of course, and rather sensational, 

 to declare this toad to have been imprisoned 

 in the rock so long that its pattern faded. 

 However, circumstances point to just those 

 conditions — and the refusal of food may be 

 caused by a partial or total lack of vision. 

 Regarding the habits of the spade-foot toad. 

 Miss Mary A. Dickerson writes* : 



"It burrows into the ground and sleeps 

 days or weeks, perhaps years, at a time. A 

 gravedigger once found one three feet two 

 inches from the surface of the ground, with 

 no evident exit to the burrow. . . . Ex- 

 cept during the breeding season, the spade- 

 foot is found only by accident. It sits in its 

 burrow, showing only its peculiar golden eyes 

 at the doorway. The turnip-shaped burrow 

 is about six inches long and somewhat oblique 

 in position. The earth on the interior is hard 

 and smooth, packed into this condition by a 

 continued energetic turning-about on the part 

 of the owner of the burrow." r. l. n. 



THE -MATAMATA. 



AFTER a wait of nearly nine years, the 

 /-\ rare matamata — the strangest of turtles 

 — is at last on exhibition in the Reptile 

 House. Three specimens have been deposited 

 by the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. 

 They were collected in a tributary of the Ama- 

 zon by ]\Ir. George K. Cherrie, Curator of 

 Birds and Mammals in the Brooklyn Institute. 



Owing to the importance of the matamata 

 as an exhibit in a collection of living reptiles, 

 a special tank, with plate glass sides, has 

 been constructed, and the finest specimen thus 

 exhibited. As it is diflficvdt to induce this spe- 

 cies to eat anything but live fish, the feeding 

 of a matamata is a highly interesting process 

 and may be observed to the best advantage 

 in a commodious glass tank. While lying 

 upon the bottom, with its huge, flattened head 

 twisted sideways, it is the personification of 

 sluggishness. If a minnow passes within 

 range of the creature's vision, however, the 

 mass of tentacled head and neck is reared 

 slowly, then comes a dart of such rapidity 

 the human eye is unable to follow the move- 

 ment. The fish appears to voluntarily leap 

 down the turtle's throat — owing to a suction 

 created when the capacious jaws spring open. 



In appearance of shell, the matamata is 

 not unlike the big Mississippi snapping-turtle. 

 The shell is mud-colored, and rises in coarse, 

 serrated ridges. Most remarkable about the 

 reptile are the head and neck. The head is 

 triangular, terminating in a long, tubular 

 snout, but the entire organ, including the neck, 

 is as flat as if squeezed under strong pressure. 

 Added to the grotesque make-up, is a fringe 

 of flattened excrescences on each side of the 

 head and neck. Incidentally, the head cannot 

 be drawn back into the shell, but is tucked 

 in sideways in time of danger. The members 

 of the family of which the matamata belongs 

 are called the side-necked turtles. The tech- 

 nical name for the family is the Chelydidae. 



In habits the matamata is much like the 

 snapping-turtle. It is strictly aquatic, lying 

 on the bottom of muddy rivers, where the 

 rough surface of the shell and the excres- 

 cences on the neck give it an appearance not 

 unlike a chunk of derelict timber. Lying in 

 wait on the bottom, the waving fringes on 

 the neck probably attract passing fishes that 

 are captured by a dart of the head. r. l. d. 



' The Frog Book, Doubleday, Page & Company, New York. 



