1925] St over: A Synopsis of the Amphibia of California 173 
History. — Bufo halophila was described from a specimen collected 
by Dr. John L. LeConte at Benicia in August, 1850. A note accom- 
panying the original specimen said “ frequenting the edges of the sea 
[= Carquinez Strait] and jumping into the water when pursued ’ ’ 
was probably responsible for the choice of species name. For many 
years the names boreas, columbiensis, and halophilus were applied in 
varying combinations to the toads of western North America. Camp 
(19175, pp. 115-116), in a critical study of this group which included 
examination of the types in the National Museum, concluded that 
columbiensis was a synonym of boreas and that only two recognizable 
forms, boreas and halophilus occur in California. The status of Bufo 
boreas nelsoni Stejneger (1893, pp. 220-221) with respect to Califor- 
nia I am unable to determine at the present time; Stejneger and 
Barbour have omitted it from the second edition (1923) of their check 
list. 
Range. — This toad inhabits the greater part of California, being 
absent only from the southeastern deserts and from the higher parts 
of the central Sierra Nevada. At the south it has been found at 
Ensenada (Van Denburgh and Slevin, 1921c, p. 53), and La Grulla, 
Lower California (Schmidt, 1922, p. 634). The eastern boundary 
of its range in California is marked by the following stations of occur- 
rence: near Mountain Spring (Storer, MS) and at Vallecito and 
La Puerta, San Diego County (Grinnell and Camp, 1917, p. 142) ; in 
the San Jacinto Mountains at Tahquitz Valley, 8000 feet, and Bound 
Valley, 9000 feet (Mus. Vert. Zool.) ; at Cabezon, 1700 feet (Mus. 
Vert. Zool.), Biverside County; in the San Bernardino Mountains at 
Doble, 7000 feet (Mus. Vert. Zool.), at Victorville, San Bernardino 
County (Grinnell and Camp, loc. cit.) ; in Kern Valley at Weldon and 
Onyx (Mus. Vert. Zool.) ; in Owens Valley north to Independence 
(Stejneger, 1893, p. 220). In the southern Sierra Nevada it ascends 
to high altitudes, as to Whitney Meadows [9800 feet], and Bound 
Valley, 10,000 feet, Tulare County (Stejneger, 1893, p. 220). Along 
the west flank of the Sierra Nevada halophilus occurs on the Kings 
Biver at 5200 feet (Stejneger, loc. cit.), and in Yosemite Valley, 4000 
feet (Grinnell and Storer, 1924, p. 655). Westward and northward 
halophilus is found practically everywhere, to the belt of territory 
where it intergrades with boreas. Specimens from Sonoma, Butte, 
and Inyo counties are the northernmost showing the typical form of 
subspecies halophilus. 
