No. 515] 



THE AMERICAS TOAD 



649 



to spawn. Pond no. 1 is within a hundred yards of a 

 large permanent pond, and when there were a hundred 

 or more toads in the former, very few were to be found 

 about the latter. 



In natural ponds toads congregate more or less during 

 the spawning season and in a given pond 90 per cent, or 

 more of the eggs are laid within a radius of fifteen feet. 

 In three of the four natural ponds observed the eggs 

 were deposited in an area less than fifteen feet in diam- 

 eter. Other places similar to those where the spawn was 

 laid existed in these ponds, but were used only by a very 

 few toads if at all. Usually only a portion of the grassy 

 place chosen was used (Fig. 2). The artificial pond in 



University Park gives almost the same results. Here 

 the edges are kept clean and the toads had to deposit 

 their spawn on the bottom. Nevertheless, all the eggs 

 laid here before May 4 were deposited in an eight by 

 ten foot strip of the north shore.. Later, May 9-15, eggs 

 were laid all along the north and northeast sides, with 

 a few scattered spawn along the south. The two or three 



