174 University of California Publications in Zoology ITol. 27 
Bufo halophilus is a common species throughout its range and 
except for a few localities in southern California where its range 
covers that of Bufo cognatus calif or nicus, it is the only species of 
Bufo present. Halophilus occurs clown close to the seacoast, for 
example just above the ocean beach in San Diego County and near 
the Hopkins Marine Station at Pacific Grove, and ranges widely in 
the foothills and valleys of the State, even to high altitudes in the 
southern Sierra Nevada. Nominally its range includes the Lower 
Sonoran, Upper Sonoran and Transition zones, but in the vicinity of 
Mount Whitney it occurs in association with plants and vertebrates 
characteristic of the Canadian and Hudsonian zones. 
Life-history. — This species does not differ markedly in habits 
from other toads inhabiting north temperate latitudes. Halophilus 
spends the day in any sort of convenient shelter, such as a squirrel 
or gopher burrow, under a wooden or cement walk, beneath a horse 
trough, in a bed of leaves, in a road culvert — in short, in any place 
where it can find retreat from the dry air of midday. In the lowland 
parts of its range the toads of this species are active throughout the 
year, with no hibernation such as is practiced by americanus in the 
eastern states. Thus individuals of halophilus have been seen abroad 
at Berkeley in December, and in Solano County four individuals were 
found active on December 24, 1922. At the higher altitudes in the 
mountains of southern and central California a dormant period is 
probably the rule, but exact observations are lacking. 
Throughout the greater part of the year the individuals of this 
species are scattered out over the country. Each then occupies its 
own little individual shelter of the sort just indicated, and ventures 
forth at late dusk each night to hunt its food, returning at, or before, 
daybreak. The regular return to the same shelter observable in this 
species as with others of the genus indicates a strong ‘homing’ instinct. 
The population of this species, in wild country and in farming 
districts, is often very large. The ivriter has had as many as five 
present in a town garden where the forage area was probably not more 
than 100 by 100 feet in extent. In cultivated fields, where the crops 
attract large numbers of insects which in turn are sought by toads, 
several individuals of the latter may be concentrated in a single day- 
time retreat ; upon one occasion eight toads were found together in a 
small damp hole. 
Halophilus is a heavy-bodied animal and does not travel rapidly 
either on land or in the water. The old adult females of large size 
