AMPHI BIANS AND REPTILES OF BEXAR COUN T Y 9 



body depressed, the head, body and tail continuous, with very 

 little constriction at the neck; the tail cylindrical, very slightly 

 compressed towards the pointed conical tip, and longer than the 

 body" (Cope, "The Batrachia of North America", pp. 139. 

 141). I quote much of Cope's description of the form and color- 

 ation of this species so that Bexar County nature students will 

 have no difficulty in distinguishing it from the two smaller spe- 

 cies of Ambystoma. 



Twenty specimens of this species collected by Mr. Marnock 

 in the region about Helotes are in the collections of Baylor Uni- 

 versity and the Scientific Society of San Antonio. 



6. Scaphiopus couchii Baird Couch's Spadefoot 



Scaphiopus couchii Baird, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 



Vol. 7, 1854, p. 62. 

 Mr. Marnock obtained numerous specimens of this species 

 at Helotes. Mr. Garni reported it as common on the grounds of 

 St. Louis College "during the toad days" (the rainy season). 

 It is rather "abundant within the city limits of the city of San 

 Antonio. I collected several in July, 1915, and Mr. Hurter col- 

 lected a large series after a heavy rain storm when the water 

 had driven them from their subterranean haunts. In many 

 sections of Texas, this spadefoot is shown hy the vernacular 

 name of "rain toad", a name commonly applied to the chame- 

 leon tree frog (Hyla versicolor) in more eastern sections of the 

 country. 



7. Scaphiopus hammondii Baird Western Spadefoot 



Scaphiopus hammondii Baird, Rept. Pacific R. R. Surv., 

 Vol. 10, Pt. 4, 1875, p. 12. 

 Mr. Marnock is supposed to have collected this species in 

 the neighborhood of Helotes (Dickerson, "The Frog Book", p. 

 60) but I found no specimens in his collection. Mr. Garni col- 

 lected one specimen near San Antonio and sent it to me for iden- 

 tification. 



8. Bufo woodhousii Girard. Woodhouse's Toad 



Bufo woodhousii Girard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 

 Vol. 7, 1854, p. 86. 

 This toad is usually considered the western representative 

 of Bufo americanus Holbrook and given varietal rank under that 

 species but Stejneger and Barbour have dropped the trinominal 

 and given it full specific rank — temporarily, at least. Wood- 

 housii is larger and darker than americamis and in the rather 

 limited series at my disposal, seems to differ considerably from 



