THE HERPETOLOGY OF CUBA. 



INTRODUCTION. 



No previous attempt has been made to produce a complete list of the 

 amphibians and reptiles of Cuba with descriptions of the species. It should be 

 expressly understood that the senior author is responsible for the actual writ- 

 ing of this paper, for the nomenclature, and taxonomic descriptions, and the 

 junior author has contributed many details of distribution and notes upon 

 habits and habitats; his work has been chiefly in the Guantanamo Basin; and 

 of this region he has the intimate knowledge which only long residence can give. 

 The senior author besides having been privileged to collect with his associate 

 upon Monte Libano, and elsewhere about Guantanamo, has visited various 

 chosen localities in all of the other provinces, usually several times. Thus one 

 or other of the writers has himself collected, with a few exceptions, every defi- 

 nitely known Cuban reptile or amphibian. 



In 1880 Gundlach published his classic Erpetologia Cubana in Havana and 

 in the natural course of events many changes have taken place since that time 

 which have affected the nomenclature and status of the species treated, while 

 new forms have been discovered. 



SYNOPSIS OF THE SPECIES. 



GxjNDLACH in 1880 recognized fifty-four species of reptiles (aside from 

 marine tortoises) and twelve species of amphibians. In 1914, only sixty-three 

 species altogether were recognized (Barbour, Reptiles and Amphibians of the 

 West Indies, Mem. M. C. Z., 44), many of Gundlach's names being reduced to 

 the synonymy, or otherwise disposed of, and but comparatively few new species 

 described. The following comparative table shows the present status of the 

 species mentioned in Gundlach's Erpetologia Cubana, (Habana 1880, p. 1-99). 



