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Show 1899.] AMERICAN SPADE-FOOT. 791 Mr. C. S. Brimley writes from Bayleigh, N . Carolina, to the 'American Naturalist' (1896, p. 5 0 1 ) : - " Last May I collected fifty breeding in a pool only a few yards from m y house. In every case the grasp of the male was inguinal. The cry was not much louder than that of the common toad (Bufo americanus).'' The habits, so far as I have been able to observe them, are very similar to those of Pelobates. They burrow* in the soil in exactly the same manner and come out only at night to feed. All my efforts to induce them to produce, when irritated, the loud cries so striking in Pelobates have failed. O n the contrary, when teased, they assume a very humble appearance, bending down the head at an angle to the vertebral column and shutting the eyes in a manner which is well represented on the accompanying plate. EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. Vomerine teeth in two small, transverse or oblique groups on a level with the posterior border of the choanse. Tongue large, thick, circular, entire or feebly nicked and free behind. Head large, convex, broader than long, with somewhat swollen occiput; crown and occiput rugose, the skin adhering to the bones; snout rounded, projecting slightly beyond the mouth ; canthus rostralis rounded, lores very oblique ; nostrils nearer the tip of the snout than the eyes, the distance between them half the width of the interorbital space, which exceeds tbe width of tbe upper eyelid ; eye large, prominent, lateral; tympanum distinct, circular or vertically oval, two-thirds to three-fourths the diameter of the eye. Fingers short, obtuse, tbird longest, first a little longer than second, fourth shortest; no subarticular tubercles ; three round flat carpal tubercles forming a triangle, inner largest, at base of first finger, the two outer at the bases of the third and fourth fingers respectively. Hind limbs robust and short, with swollen calves ; the tibio-tarsal articulation reaches the shoulder or the tympanum ; tibia shorter than the femur, the heels being widely separated from each other when the legs are folded at right angles to the rhachis. Foot longer than the tibia; toes short, obtuse, three-fourths or entirely webbed ; no subarticular tubercles ; a very large, compressed, sharp-edged inner metatarsal tubercle, longer than and in the axis of the inner toe. Skin finely granulate or with small flat warts; black horny granules on the crown and occiput and on the warts of the body and limbs ; a short, roundish or subtriangular, moderately prominent parotoid gland above the tympanum ; lower parts smooth or feebly granulate ; a roundish flat gland usually present on each side of the breast. Brown or dark olive above, uniform or with more or less distinct darker marblings and often with a lyre-shaped pale brown or sulphur-yellow, dark-edged band on the back, the branches widest 51* |
