1925] Storer: A Synopsis of the Amphibia of California 
157 
Counts of contiguous masses in a portion of one pool at Santa 
Maria gave the following numbers of eggs in separate clusters : 27, 18, 
34, 42, 28, 31, 21, 17, 10, 15, 30, 22, 32; maximum 42, minimum 10, 
average 24. These thirteen masses were all which could be reached 
from one position in the pool, roughly in a circle about five feet in 
diameter. 
The number of eggs laid by one female is not known. At Waco, 
Texas, Strecker (1908, p. 202) found that the egg complement of 
Scaphiopus couchii ranged from 343 to 528. From the number of 
ovarian eggs seen in certain California specimens of Scaphiopus ham- 
mondii I would judge that a somewhat similar number of eggs is 
deposited by the latter species. The number of eggs in individual 
clumps or strings of eggs is miich larger for couchii at Waco (45 to 
124) than for hammondii at Santa Maria (10 to 42). 
One lot of eggs collected at Santa Maria on April 11, 1923, after 
preservation in 5 per cent formalin, presented the following measure- 
ments (in millimeters) : 
Egg 
Vitelline 
capsule 
Inner 
jelly coat 
Outer 
jelly coat 
Minimum 
1.47 
1.50 
1.63 
3.25 
Maximum 
1.62 
1.75 
1.88 
3.75 
Average of 9 
1.60 
1.66 
1.81 
3.60 
Another lot also in 
early stages gave the following measurements : 
Vitelline 
Inner 
Outer 
Egg 
capsule 
jelly coat 
jelly coat 
Minimum 
1.55 
1.66 
1.81 
3.55 
Maximum 
1.66 
1.77 
1.94 
4.44 
Average of 6 
1.62 
1.73 
1.85 
4.07 
Ten additional eggs were measured. The results w T ere : minimum 
1.55 millimeters ; maximum 1.72; average 1.64. 
The jelly, when not covered wfith sediment, is clear and highly 
transparent. The eggs in the earlier stages of development are dark 
greenish olive in color. 
The material obtained at Santa Maria was in two distinct stages 
of development, one portion obviously having been laid on the night 
of April 9 (and 10?) and the other at an unknown earlier date, but 
probably not earlier than April 3. The latter were nearly ready to 
hatch; in fact some of the embryos dropped out of the jelly when 
the latter was handled. 
