4 
University of California Publications in Zoology [Vol. 27 
HISTORICAL NOTE 
The first and in some ways; one of the most important papers 
dealing with the amphibia of California was the fifth part of the 
Zoologischer Atlas issued in 1833 detailing the results of Dr. Fried- 
rich Esehscholtz’ visit to California in 1824. A few scattering 
specimens were obtained in the next two decades, but it was not until 
the advent of the Pacific Railroad surveys, following the discovery 
of gold in California, that the amphibian fauna of the State became 
known in any degree. The greater part of the material obtained by 
the naturalists attached to the survey parties came under the keen 
scrutiny of Spencer F. Baird and was described by him and his 
associates. 
Subsequent literature dealing with the Amphibia of California is 
limited for the most part to portions of general articles dealing with 
amphibians in the western United States. The extent and nature of 
this material to date is indicated by the lists of synonymic references 
prefacing the accounts of species, taken in conjunction with the 
terminal bibliography. The several critical papers by Camp (1915- 
1917) dealing with local problems of classification and distribution 
which had vexed herpetologists for many years have done much to 
facilitate further studies in the local field. The check list by Grinnell 
and Camp (1917) was the first comprehensive paper on the amphibian 
fauna of the State. An excellent beginninig in the way of life-history 
studies was made with the appearance in 1897 of Ritter’s paper on 
Diemyctylus [= Triturus] torosus, and this was followed by papers 
by Ritter and Miller (1899-1903) on the life-history of Autodax 
[= Aneides] lugubris. Here unfortunately the contributions end, 
save for a few scattering notes (Burke, 1911; Snyder, 1923; Van 
Denburgh, 18955, 1898) on the eggs of other land salamanders. A 
few facts concerning life-histories of California amphibians are con- 
tained in Dickerson’s Frog Book (1906). 
MATERIAL 
When the writer began to collect data on California species he 
found, therefore, an almost unexplored field. Numerous short field 
trips were made to seek out and identify the eggs and larvae of the 
aquatic spawning species occurring in the San Francisco Bay region ; 
