OVERTON : LOX(; ISLAND FROGS AND TOADS. 29 
on a dark night ma\- be recognized b\- its \-ocal sac which appears Hke a 
liig white bubble shining in the light of the lantern. 
S])adefoot toads are seldom quiet while they are in the water. They 
fight araong themselves and tumble about in an active manner. Thex' 
are shxand difficult to photogra])h. They ajijjear in pools suddenly after 
a hard rain, and after a da\- or two the\- disajipear into their under- 
ground retreats. 
The onl>- time when s])adefoot toads are not shy is while the_\- are 
actualh' la\ ing their eggs. A pair of toads about to deposit a mass of eggs 
will cling to a stiff spear of gra.ss about a foot beneath the surface of the 
water, and will slowly crawl up the stem, depositing a .string of about 
two hundred eggs enclosed in a gelatinous envelope about as large around 
as the toad's leg. Each batch will be laid within five minutes, and 
during that time the pair ma>- be approached readily. A toad will lay its 
eggs at intervals within a ver\- few hours, and will then disa]ipear from 
the ]iool. 
The spadefoot is a l)urrowing toad, and sjiends the greater part of 
its time beneath the surface of the ground. It is about the size of a 
common toad, but its skin is much smoother. The sole of each hind foot 
bears a small horny projection, with which it digs the soil, and therebx' 
sinks itself backward beneath the surface of the ground. This projection 
gives the toad its name, but it is inconspicuous, and is only a little larger 
than a similar projection that is found on the hind foot of the conunon 
toad. A stire mark of recognition is that the puiiil of a spadefoot's e\'e 
is a \ertical slit, like that of a cat. while in all other Long Island toads 
and frogs the ])U]iiI is a horizontal slit. 
vS])adefoot toads are considered to be rare, and few detailed ob.ser- 
\-ations of them have been made. Dozens of them suddenl\- appeared in 
a temporary pool near the Bay Avenue school building in Patchogue 
during the first week of April, 1912, after a series of hard rains. A])ril 
seventh was warm and jileasant, and the toads were noisy all da\-. The 
temi)erature fell below freezing in the evening, and all the toads 
disapiieared until the sixteenth, wlien the air again became warm, and a 
number reappeared for that da\- onlw The temperature again fell in the 
evening, and no more spadefoots were heard until the twenty-seventh, 
when a few were heard after a hard rain. Xone were heard or seen after 
that date. A great number of eggs were laid, Ijut no tadpoles survived 
the frosts. 
