New York, July 27, 1915. No. 20 





oFEI 



Published to advance the Science of cold-blooded vertebrates 



ANNUAL OCCURRENCE OF SPADE-FOOT 



TOADS. 



Spade-foot toads (Scaphiopus holbrooki) ap- 

 peared in Patchogue on the evening of May 22, 1915, 

 for at least the fourth successive year. The first hard 

 rain of spring occurred on the night of May 21, and 

 on the evening of May 22, great numbers of toads 

 were present in the same pool in which they have been 

 seen in previous years. On the morning of the 23d 

 nearly every blade of grass in the pool was covered 

 with their eggs, and by night not a toad remained 

 in sight. The sudden emergence of the toads from 

 their underground retreats and their extremely short 

 stay in the breeding pools, probably accounts for the 

 former belief that years usually elapse between their 

 appearances. 



Frank Overton, 

 Patchogue, N. Y. 



NOTE ON AN UNUSUALLY LARGE 



OCEAN SUNFISH. 



On May 14, 1915, I examined a very large 

 Ocean Sunfish or Mola (3[ola mola) at the fish house 

 of the Borzone Fish Company in San Francisco. The 

 fish had been caught the day before in a parancella 

 net about 4-0 miles off the Golden Gate and south of 

 the Farallons. 



