studied in thema jor i ty of forms. During much of this time he virtually lived with the amphibians. 

 Bragg claimed to be able to "think" like a toad, and his students and friends sometimes referred to 

 him as "Mr. Toad" or " Buf o " Bragg. He seemed to know every pool, permanent and temporary, almost to the 

 smallest buffalo wallow, and he could determine with amazing accuracy whether it had been used for 

 breeding by Scaph i opus . Bufo , Rana . Hyla . or other amphibians. Despite the scope and intensity of his 

 work on the amphibians, his research was always run on a "shoestring" budget, supported principally by 

 the Oklahoma Biological Survey, which he served as herpet olog ist . 



Bragg published more than two hundred papers, and a book on the spadefoot toads. His papers were 

 not entirely devoted to herpetology, but also covered subjects such as protozoans and other invertebrates, 

 religion and science, and biography. He has been ,cr i t ic ized for putting out so many short notes, some 

 perhaps superficial or not "scientifically" written, in obscure journals. These criticisms did not appear 

 to bother Bragg. He never worried about where he published, and did not consider this important. He 

 frequently remarked that a person could publish a number of short papers and then later review and 

 discuss these in a longer paper, or save all the data and publish a single long paper. He once said 

 that if something had happened to him, and these small notes had not been published, then we would 

 not have known most of what he had learned about spadefoots. Like many field biologists, he carried 

 an enormous amount of unpublished information and observations around in his head. 



Few contemporary herpetolog i sts met Bragg, although he corresponded with many. He was active in 

 the Oklahoma Academy of Science and rarely missed a meeting, but it was unusual for him to attend a 

 national scientific meeting. This was in part due to the financial troubles that plagued him into later 

 life, by which time his health prevented long journeys to meetings. Bragg had many interests outside 

 herpetology. He was at one time active in the Presbyterian Church. He liked to read a wide variety 

 of subjects, and could converse on practically any topic. During later years, when he could read only 

 with the aid of a magnifying glass, he would have his graduate students read aloud favorite selections 

 from the books of poetry that were always at hand. He actively collected stamps, and had a postmark 

 collect ion. 



Arthur N. Bragg enjoyed living, and impressed his sense of enjoyment on those who knew him. 

 Concerning hii studies, he wrote: "I firmly believe that one does best what one likes best to do," 

 and "I was made for a field naturalist, not for a laboratory man." His life's work stands as a monument 

 to the accuracy of this self-analysis. 



HERPETOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS 

 1933 Variations in common laboratory animals. Turtox News 11 (6):5 4 - 



1936a Notes on the breeding habits, eggs, and embryos of Bufo cognatus with a description of the 



tadpole. Copeia I936 (l):14-20. 

 1936b The ecological distribution of some North American Anura. Amer. Nat. 7O ( 730) : 459-466. 



1937a Observations on Bufo cognatus with special reference to the breeding habits and eggs. 



Amer. Midi. Nat. 18 (2): 273-284. 

 1937b A note on the metamorphosis of the tadpoles of Bufo cognatus . Copeia 1937 (4):227"228. 



1938 The organization of the early embryo of Bufo cognatus as revealed by the mitotic index. 

 Z. Zellforsch. mikrosk. Anat. 48:154-178. 



1939 a * study of the mitotic cycle and mitotic distribution in the early embryo of Bufo cognatus 

 Say with special reference to factors in the organization of the embryo. Abstracts of 

 Theses (Univ. Okla.) for 1937:73-75- 



1939b Some cytological phenomena in early embryos of Bufo cognatus Say. Trans. Amer. Microsc. Soc. 



58 (3)^357-370. 



1939c Possible hybridization between Bufo cognatus and B. w. woodhousi i . Copeia I939 ( 3J 1 173- 

 1939^ Observations upon amphibian deutoplasm and its relation to embryonic and early larval 



development. Biol. Bull. 77 (2):268-284. 

 1939 e Observations on the natural history of Bufo cognatus Say (Abstract). Proc. Okla. Acad. 



Sci. 19:41-42. 



1940a Observations on the ecology and natural history of Anura. VI. The ecological importance 



of the study of the habits of animals as illustrated by toads. Wasmann Club Coll. 4 (l): 



6-16. 

 1940b Observations on the ecology and natural history of Anura. I. Habits, habitat and breeding 



of Bufo cognatus Say. Amer. Nat. 74 ( 753) : 322-349 and 74 ( 754) : 424-438. 

 1940c Observations on the ecology and natural history of Anura. II. Habits, habitat, and breeding 



of Bufo woodhousi i woodhous i i (Girard) in Oklahoma. Amer. Midi. Nat. 24 ( 2) : 306-321. 

 1940d Observations on the ecology and natural history of Anura. III. The ecological distribution 



of Anura of Cleveland County, Oklahoma, including notes on the habits of several species. 



Amer. Midi. Nat. 24 ( 2) 1 322-335. 

 1940e Observations on the ecology and natural history of Anura. V. The process of hatching in 



several species. Proc. Okla. Acad. Sci. 20s 7I-74. 



