2 University of Michigan 



large, distinct and arranged in pairs ;•' an irregular pale band 

 on the sides ; ventral surface white and immaculate ; song not 

 distinctly vibrated. 



As is well known, the structural and color characters are 

 subject to considerable variations in both species, and Allard* 

 states that the characteristic song of Biifo americanus is oc- 

 casionally given by Bufo fowleri, except that it is shorter. It 

 is thus impossible always to distinguish the forms on the basis 

 of any one character, but apparently this does not mean that 

 Bufo foivlcri has been based upon individual variations of 

 B. aincricanus nor that it is a geographical race of the latter; 

 for, the forms can be readily separated when the totality of 

 characters is used in diagnosing specimens, the two species 

 occur in the same regions, and specimens with the characters 

 of B. fozvleri do not occur at random in the range of B. 

 auicricanus. The question of hybridization can only be de- 

 termined with certainty by experiments. 



The range of Bufo fozvleri is given by Dickerson {loc. cit., 

 p. 95 ) as follows : "Danvers, Woods Hole, and Cuttyhunk 

 Island, ]\Iassachusetts. Common throughout Rhode Island. 

 Probably common in other parts of Massachusetts, and per- 

 haps in still other New England States. Specimens are in the 

 American Museum of Natural History, in a collection repre- 

 senting the Batrachia of the vicinity of New York City." In 

 1907 and 1908 Allard'^ was able to show that the form extended 

 as far south as northern Georgia, and in 191 1 Hancock'' re- 

 ferred some western ^Michigan toads to this sj^ecies. Han- 



* Dickerson (The Frog Tiook. p. 94") describes the anaiigeiiient of the dorsal 

 spots as follows : "Six pairs along the vertebral streak — first pair, elongated spots 

 placed obliquely on the eyelids and top of the head; second jiair, rounded and 

 small, between the anterior ends of the parotoids; third pair, greatly elongated, 

 more or less pear-shaped, situated on the anterior part of the back; fourth, fifth, 

 and sixth pairs irregular, the last often obscure." 



*Allard, H. A. Science, N. S., XXVIII, pp. 655-656; Ibid., XLIV. pp. 463- 

 464. 



5 Science. N. S., XXVI, 383-384, and XXVIII, 655-656. 



"Hancock, J. L. Nature Sketches in Temperate America. Chicago, 191 1. 



