SPADE-FOOT FROGS 263 



Some years ago, when I was amusing my- 

 self for a little with the study of toads and 

 frogs, checking Dr. J. A. Allen's annotated 

 list of the Massachusetts batrachia, I became 

 very curious about this peculiar and little 

 understood species, known scientifically as 

 Scaphiopus holbrookii, or the solitary spade- 

 foot. It was originally described from South 

 Carolina, I read, and was first found in 

 Massachusetts, near Salem, about 1810. Its 

 cries were said to have been heard at a dis- 

 tance of half a mile, and were mistaken for 

 those of young crows. For more than thirty 

 years afterward the frogs were noticed at this 

 place only three times. They were described 

 as burrowing in the ground, coming forth 

 only to spawn, and that, as far as could be 

 ascertained, at very irregular intervals, some- 

 times many years in length. 



This, as I say, I read in Dr. Allen's cat- 

 alogue, to the great sharpening of my curi- 

 osity. If I ever heard such noises, I should 

 be prepared to guess at the author of them. 

 Well, some years afterward (it was almost 

 exactly eight years ago), fresh from a first 

 visit to Florida, where my ears had grown 



