MEXICAN TAILLESS AMPHIBIANS 51 



The cotypes of Girard's Bujo debilis are not designated in the cata- 

 logue of the division of reptiles. On searching, it was found that 

 there are only two entries that could possibly have been collected 

 prior to the publication of Girard's paper. One of these is a specimen 

 (U.S.N.M. No. 2620) collected by Arthur Schott between the Salada 

 River (which empties into the Rio Grande near the town of Guer- 

 rero in Tamaulipas) and Camargo in Tamaulipas. This locality i& 

 in the lower part of the valley of the Rio Bravo (Rio Grande). 

 Under the initial organization of the United States and Mexican 

 Boundary Survey under Commissioner J. R. Bartlett, Arthur C. V. 

 Schott was appointed a collector and assigned to the party of Lieut. 

 A. W. Whipple. The commissioner's party left El Paso, Tex., in 

 November, 1850, and arrived at Copper Mines, N. Mex., in May, 

 1851. Col. J. D. Graham, the chief astronomer, did not arrive at 

 Copper Mines until August 2, 1851, and this delayed the progress of 

 the boundary survey considerably. The parties under the direction 

 of Bartlett were then reorganized, and Schott must have received 

 some other assignment, for his name is not included among those who 

 left Copper Mines on August 28, 1851. On September 13, 1851, 

 Maj. William H. Emory was directed to proceed to El Paso, Tex., 

 to relieve Colonel Graham and take charge of the astronomical force. 

 Observatories were established at Frontera (El Paso, Tex.), at San 

 Elceario (Elizario, Tex.), and at Eagle Pass, Tex. It would seem 

 that Schott was subsequently assigned to Major Emory, as a bird 

 skin was collected by him at Eagle Pass, in June, 1852. Bartlett's 

 expedition did not return to Ringgold Barracks, Tex., until December 

 20, 1852. When the work of the Boundary Commission was suspended 

 in December, 1852, Major Emory left for New Orleans. That Schott 

 either was left in Texas or was directed to report there in advance 

 of the main party of the new commissioner seems to be confirmed by 

 the birds collected by him at Sabanitas, Rio Grande, on September 

 20, 1853, at Rio Grande, Tex., on October 13, 1853, and at Browns- 

 ville, Tex., on October 25, 1853. The new commissioner. Gen. 

 Robert B. Campbell, was appointed in March 1853, and work was 

 recommenced in December, 1853. Arthur Schott was placed in 

 charge of a surveying party under Major Emory and assigned the 

 survey from Laredo to Ringgold Barracks, Tex. Although the date 

 of completion of this portion of the survey is uncertain, the boundary 

 survey was again reorganized in October, 1854, under Commissioner 

 William Hemsley Emory. Schott was assigned as assistant to Lieut. 

 N. Michler and this division proceeded through New Mexico to Cali- 

 fornia, where camp was made on the initial point of the Rio Colorado 

 in April 21, 1855. Inasmuch as the entry in the catalogue for this 

 particular toad indicates that Schott was working under the direction 

 of Major Emory, the assumption is that it msij have been collected 



