1925] Storer: A Synopsis of the Amphibia of California 189 
General coloration light or dark yellow or gray ; narrow vertebral 
stripe white or pale yellow ; dorsal surface with large irregular- 
margined dark spots roughly in bilateral series as follows : on eyelid, 
inside and outside of parotoid gland, just posterior to parotoid, 
middle of back (several) and on rump; spots blackish in preserved 
specimens, greenish in life ; ventral surface of body and limbs, dull 
yellow ; vocal sac of males bluish black ; limbs irregularly cross-barred 
with black ; tips of all digits and metatarsal tubercles, brownish black. 
Measurements of Adult Specimens of Bufo cognatus cognatus from 
Southeastern California 
M. V. Z. 
No. 
Sex 
Date 
H ead-and-body 
length 
Length of head 
Width of head 
Orbit 
Interorbital 
space 
Forearm 
Hand 
Femur 
Tibia 
Tarsus 
Whole foot 
4357 1 
9 
July 
16, 1909 
66.0 
19.6 
25.3 
9.8 
4.0 
17.5 
16.0 
25.0 
24.5 
15.5 
41 
1133 1 
9 
July 
16, 1909 
67.2 
19.7 
27.4 
10.0 
4.0 
17.6 
15.9 
26.8 
23.7 
15.0 
39 
4356 1 
9 
July 
16, 1909 
69.0 
19.7 
27.0 
9.0 
3.5 
17.3 
15.5 
27.2 
24.6 
14.0 
40 
1059 2 
9 
May 
4, 1909 
73.0 
20.5 
28.5 
10.0 
3.7 
18.1 
18.3 
28.8 
25.3 
16.2 
41 
464 3 
9 
Apr. 
20, 1908 
80.5 
21.8 
29.0 
10.0 
3.5 
19.0 
17.9 
34.6 
26.5 
17.0 
48 
465 3 
d 1 
Apr. 
28, 1908 
56.2 
17.0 
21.0 
8.4 
2.8 
14.0 
13.9 
23.0 
20.3 
13.3 
35 
462 3 
d 1 
Apr. 
21, 1908 
58.3 
17.0 
21.2 
8.8 
3.0 
16.2 
14.4 
21.3 
20.7 
13.0 
35 
1139 1 
d 1 
July 
16, 1909 
60.0 
18.0 
28.7 
8.3 
3.0 
16.0 
14.6 
26.8 
23.0 
14.3 
38 
1134 1 
cT 
July 
16, 1909 
63.7 
19.3 
24.3 
8.2 
3.0 
16.4 
13.7 
28.9 
23.3 
15.1 
35 
1138 1 
cf 
July 
16, 1909 
66.0 
19.7 
24.3 
10.0 
3.3 
16.8 
15.4 
28.3 
26.0 
15.5 
39 
1 Needles, San Bernardino Co. 
2 Brawley, Imperial Co. 
3 Mecca, Riverside Co. 
History. — This was the earliest western amphibian to be described, 
as the first specimen, obtained in 1819 or 1820 by Long’s expedition 
to the Rocky Mountains (probably in eastern Colorado), was described 
by Say in the report of that expedition in 1823. Cope in 1879 de- 
scribed an apparently abnormal individual, lacking cranial crests, 
as Bufo dipt emus , but he later relegated the name to synonymy. 
Cognatus has in the past occasionally been listed as a subspecies of the 
wide-ranging lentiginosus (= americanus) , but it is quite distinct 
from that species. The cognatus population in California west of the 
desert was separated by Camp in 1915 as a distinct subspecies, cali- 
fornicus. 
Range. — Bufo cognatus cognatus occupies a wide extent of terri- 
tory including the Great Plains and the southern part of the desert 
area along the Mexican boundary west to California. 
