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THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLIII 



pairs that may occasionally be found in ponds during 

 the latter part of May and June may deposit their eggs 

 any place about the ponds. I found a little colony of 

 some twenty pairs June 4-8 laying in a space not more 

 than six feet in diameter in an overflow of Beaver Brook. 

 My observations for the spring of 1908 on the same ponds 

 confirm the above statements. The spawn in the various 

 ponds was deposited in almost exactly the same places 

 as the previous year. 



Since in general only limited areas are used for spawn- 

 ing it would indicate that there is some choice among 

 toads for spawning grounds. This is done by the males, 

 but without the purpose of having the spawn deposited in 

 such and such a place. They reach the water two or three 

 days before the females and begin their trilling. They 

 seek out each other and repeatedly attempt copulation 

 with one another. In this way all the males in the pond 

 are soon brought together. Even a day or two before 

 the females arrive they are assembled, usually, on some 

 grassy spot out in deep water, to which they return after 

 a fruitless attempt to mate with other males. The fe- 

 males, following the trill of the males, come at last to this 

 circle where they mate and lay. Thus these resting 

 places of the males eventually become the spawning 

 grounds. The observations of Mr. Courtis, later repeated 

 by myself, support the view that the females come to the 

 males. 



The spawning place is usually a grassy plot well out in 

 the pond where the dead grass or weeds come to within 

 two or three inches of the surface. In artificial ponds 

 where such places do not exist a shallow place along the 

 edge is used. In the former case the female, as a rule, 

 does not go down to lay, while in the latter practically 

 all spawning is done under water. 



Should it turn cold while the toads are spawning they 

 leave the water until the temperature again rises. Mean- 

 while, they may be found concealed in the grass or leaves, 

 or sunning themselves at the edge of the pond, often the 



