THE BATRACHI/. OF NORTH AMERICA. 281 



to flud what r cousider tlieir spawn, nor have I seen any copulation 

 aiuoui;- these toads, so often noticed among the common species. I have 

 seen them in this pond as Jate in the season as the hist of August. 

 TLiere are sev^eral ponds in the vicinity of the judge's i^ond, but they 

 are not visited by these toads, but I have seen them in small numbers 

 in chxy pits. I have a pond in my grounds that swarms in May with 

 the common toad, but is never visited by the one under consideration. 

 I have not noticed the common toad around this pond, but I now intend 

 to make a search for it. In answer to your question, ' What length of 

 time have these toads been observed in this pond*?' I would say I have 

 noticed them in this pond thirty-five years. In regard to their food, I 

 think it is different from that of the common toad, as they will not eat 

 earth-worms, but feed readil^^ upon flies. This habit I have noticed, as 

 well as my brother Augustus, he having kept them for some months for 

 the purpose of painting them, and who has furnished me with several 

 figures of this reptile in different attitudes. I have noticed when these 

 toads are held in the hand they make a chirping noise, and when a 

 dozen or more are confined together they make considerable noise. 

 Perhaps the same may be noticed in the commou toad during the breed- 

 ing season. It is very singular that those I sent you were all males; 

 they were all croakers, that is certain, for by their note I was led to 

 know where to take them in the dark. I have always been puzzled to 

 know why these toads visit this pond during the whole warm season. 

 So far as I have been able to judge it is for the solo purpose of croak- 

 ing, for they do nothing else, or to wet their skins. The common 

 toad is found everywhere, and breeds in all the still and quiet waters 

 in the country, whereas this supposed new species is discovered in a 

 very few ponds, and is comparatively scarce. I have thought that 

 this toad was of a more spare habit, if I may so speak — not so heavy or 

 corpulent as the commou toad, more active, as much so as the frog, and 

 full as difficult to catch. I think there is more uniformity of size and 

 color than we see in the common toads. 1 do not recollect in the great 

 numbers I have examined to have seen a small one or one differing in 

 color from another. The difference in size and color is \'ery great 

 amongst our common toads. I have said in the vicinity of this pond I 

 have frequently heard their uote some distance from the water at the 

 same time others were croaking in the pond. I have never observed 

 this anywhere else in my walks in the evening.''' 



Bufo lentiginosus icoodhousei B. & G. 



Bufo woodhousei GivM'd, Proceed. Ac. Phila., 1854, 8G ; Baird, U. S. Pac. R, R. Repts. 



p. 44, PI. XXV, fig. 1. 

 Bufofrontoius Cope, Proceed. Ac. Phila., ISGG, p. 301 ; Rept. Expl. U. S. Siirv. W. of 

 100 Mer., G. M. Wheeler, 1877, v, p. 520, 627. 

 This subspecies ma^^ be readily distinguished by its short head with 

 thickened crests elevated posteriorly. It reaches a larger size than 

 either of the other subspecies of the Bufo lentiginosus. 



