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No. 16] AMPHIBIANS OF WESTERN NORTH AMERICA gQ
Habits.— The habits of this spadefoot are similar to those of
Scaphiopus hammondii. In the spring of 1919, while the writer
was on a trip from La Paz to San Jose del Cabo, Lower California,
Mexico, a halt was made to rest the pack animals and to take
shelter from an approaching thunder storm. During the storm
the road became a rushing river, which however, quickly dried
when the rain had passed, leaving a few puddles in the depressions.
As if
by magic these became filled with spadefoot toads till several
hundred had congregated in two or three of the pools.
These particular puddles were visited the next day and until they
had dried up, but the toads never appeared again.
Distribution.— Scaphiopus couchii ranges from Texas to Arizona
south into Mexico. It is common in the Cape Region of Lower
California.
In Arizona, it has been collected in Cochise (Willcox, Fairbank),
and Pima (Tucson, Roebles Ranch near Coyote Springs between
Tucson and the Baboquivari Mountains) counties.
In Sonora, it has been taken at Nogales.
In Lower California, it has been secured at Cape San Lucas,
San Jose del Cabo, Miraflores between La Paz and San Pedro,
La Paz, Mulege, and San Ignacio.
Family 6.
BUFONID^
In this family the vertebras are procoelus and without ribs;
the sternum is usually a cartilaginous plate; the frontoparietals
are completely ossified; the pterygoid
bone is absent.
Genus 12.
Bufo
Bufo Laurenti, Syn. Rept., 1768, p. 25 (type, vulgaris=bufo)
.
In this genus, the only one represented within the limits of this
work, the pupil may be round or horizontal. The parotoid glands
are always present. The skin is usually rough, covered with
warts. The vomers are without teeth.
Synopsis of Species and Subspecies
a.— Cranial crests absent or obscure,
b.— Cranial crests absent.
c.— Parotoid glands widely separated; size larger,
d.— Parotoid glands roundish, sole tubercles smaller.