PROCEEDINGS 
OF THE 
CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
FourtTH SERIES 
Vor. III, pp. 259-264 DrcemseEr, 21, 1912 
NOTES ON ASCAPHUS, THE DISCOGLOSSOID TOAD 
OF NORTH AMERICA 
BY JOHN VAN DENBURGH 
Curator of the Department of Herpetology 
More than twelve years have passed since Dr. Stejneger’ an- 
nounced the discovery of a single specimen of a costate toad— 
the first representative of the Discoglossidae found anywhere 
in the Western Hemisphere. During these twelve years there 
has appeared no additional information regarding this ex- 
tremely interesting toad; and there has been some room for 
suspicion that the original specimen might, in some way, have 
been brought over from the Old World. The finding of addi- 
tional specimens, therefore, is a matter of much interest. 
The type specimen described by Dr. Stejneger was caught 
by Mr. Cloud Rutter, August 19, 1897, near Humptulips, Che- 
halis County, Washington. This locality has an elevation 
of about 265 feet. 
In 1905, my friend Dr. E. C. Van Dyke visited Mt. Rainier, 
in the Mt. Rainier National Park in the eastern part of Pierce 
County, Washington, and, between July 15 and 31, col- 
lected for me five specimens of amphibians. These were one 
Rana pretiosa, one Ambystoma macrodactylum, one Chondro- 
tus paroticus, the unique type of Plethodon vandykei, and a 
single specimen of Ascaphus truei. Unfortunately, all these 
specimens were destroyed in the great San Francisco fire of 
1Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XXI, 1899, pp. 899-901, pl. LXXXIX. 
December 20, 1912 
