Septembeb 20, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



383 



the overflow took place did not fill with, sedi- 

 ment as rapidly as the main valley and is now 

 occupied by the Blue Lakes and Laurel Dell 

 Lake — commonly termed, collectively, the 

 Blue Lakes. The location of the low divide 

 where the temporary lake overflowed is prob- 

 ably about one and a half miles from the 

 Blue Lakes gorge. At this point the wagon 

 road crosses a low spur that runs out to within 

 four hundred feet of the opposite side of the 

 valley, which is here undercut by the stream. 



Remembering the recent settlement of Cali- 

 fornia, it is needless to say that the time of 

 the Blue Lakes slide is prehistoric. Indian 

 legends tell of the sudden creation of the Blue 

 Lakes, but they fix no date and are hardly ac- 

 ceptable in a physiographic court. The trees 

 on the slide and on the adjacent slopes do 

 not differ in apparent age, but the mountains 

 are not heavily wooded in this vicinity. The 

 filling in of Scott's Valley and the cutting of 

 the divide separating the new lake from Clear 

 Lake give some suggestion of the time. As 

 the waters did not overflow the landslide 

 which at its lowest point is about one hundred 

 and sixty feet above Blue Lakes, the erosion 

 of the new channel must have been to a less 

 depth than the height of the slide. 



Brief mention should be made of another 

 connection between the waters of Russian 

 River and the streams of San Francisco Bay. 

 Copeland Creek flows down the western slope 

 of Sonoma Mountain and debouches on a fan 

 that spreads out over the flat divide separating 

 the Russian River from the Bay. The south- 

 ernmost of the distributaries on this fan 

 empties into Petaluma Creek and thence to 

 the bay. The northernmost flows into the 

 Russian River. These distributaries meet to- 

 day at the head of the fan and in flood time 

 Copeland Creek discharges both ways. This 

 connection seems less important than that of 

 the Blue Lakes, for it connects the Russian 

 River with a small stream emptying into the 

 salt water of the bay. The Blue Lakes slide 

 transferred bodily a portion of the fauna of 

 Russian River directly to the Sacrajnento 

 River system. 



Rdliff S. Holway 



fowlee's toad (bufo fowleri, putnam) 

 We are all familiar with toads — they seem 

 common enough in our gardens and fields, yet 

 few are aware of more than one common 

 species in the eastern states. One toad has 

 been strangely overlooked. Considered rare 

 and local for many years, it is beginning to be 

 recognized as one of the commonest forms, 

 with a range from New England to the south- 

 em states. In fact the popular term " com- 

 mon toad," in much of this territory better 

 applies to the toad (Bufo Fowleri), until very 

 recently considered so rare and limited in its 

 range, rather than to the older and better- 

 known species (JBiufo Americanus). 



Concerning, the range of Fowler's toad, Miss 

 Dickerson in her excellent " Frog Book," re- 

 ports it only from Danvers, Cutty Hunk 

 Island, Mass., throughout Rhode Island, and 

 New York near the coast. My own observa- 

 tions of this toad for a period of over ten 

 years, lead me to believe it is a common toad 

 that has been almost overlooked. It is heard 

 in great numbers all along the Maanixit 

 River, throughout the region from Oxford to 

 Worcester, Mass., where I first became ac- 

 quainted with the toad while doing some col- 

 lecting in connection with nature-study work 

 at Clark University. During the years 1900- 

 05, I spent the greater portion of the spring 

 and early summer at Chapel Hill, North 

 Carolina, a small town about twenty-eight 

 miles northwest of Raleigh. Here also I 

 heard the unmistakable droning cries of these 

 toads. In 1906 I took up quarters in Wash- 

 ington, D. C, and during the serene May 

 nights I heard a great many of these toads 

 in and around the Fish Ponds just west of the 

 monument grounds. In fact these toads were 

 hopping about throughout the vicinity — ap- 

 parently the only species of toad to be met 

 with frequently in Washington. Very re- 

 cently, also, I learned from a competent ob- 

 server that these toads were extremely abun- 

 dant around Cumberland, Maryland. He 

 stated that he had seen great numbers along 

 streams in this region during the month of 

 June, making the nights fairly hideous with 

 their noise. In August, 1906, I met Bufo 



