PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



issued iMr^vva- ^u^l ^y the 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 

 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Vol. 101 Washington: 1951 No. 3284 



NOTES ON A HERPETOLOGICAL COLLECTION FROM 

 OAXACA AND OTHER LOCALITIES IN MEXICO 



By Frederick A. Shannon 



During the summer of 1946, Walter S. Miller, of the Summer 

 Institute of Linguistics, Mexico City, made a herpetological collection 

 in the vicinity of San Lucas Camotlan, Oaxaca, where he was en- 

 gaged in making a philological study of the Mixes Indians. The 

 collection would be to the credit of a professional herpetologist, for 

 not only is it well labeled as to time, date, and place, but it contains 

 careful notes on habits, color in life, habitat, and other pertinent data. 

 Notes on this material constitute the bulk of this paper, which is a 

 Contribution from the University of Illinois Museum of Natural 

 History. In addition, other miscellaneous specimens that have come 

 to my attention during this study and material that represents helpful 

 contributions to the study of Mexican herpetology have been included. 

 Most of the specimens are in the collection of the United States Na- 

 tional Museum. 



Quotations without label are Mr. Miller's. In the main they are 

 unaltered, but I have made occasional slight changes that better express 

 the meaning of Mr. Miller's original field notes. 



INIy sincere thanks are due Dr. Hobart M. Smith and W. Leslie 

 Burger, both of the University of Illinois — to Dr. Smith for many 

 helpful suggestions made during the course of this study, and to Mr. 

 Burger for identifying the Bothrops^ a discussion of which is published 

 elsewhere. My thanks are also due my wife, Ellen Jordan Shannon, 

 who illustrated the paper. I also thank Dr. Doris M. Cochran, of the 

 United States National Museum staff, through whom arrangements 



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