12 BULLETIN 160, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Following the example of Napoleon I after the conquest of Egypt, 

 Napoleon III promulgated a decree, dated February 27, 1864, that 

 formally established the Mission Scientifique au Mexique et dans 

 I'Amerique Centrale. Firmin Bocourt received an appointment as 

 naturalist to this commission. Adolphe Boucard seems to have been 

 attached to the commission in some capacity, as his name appears 

 among those appointed as voyageurs. The exploratory work of this 

 commission extended from 1865 to 1867. Boucard had visited Mex- 

 ico at least once prior to this, for in 1855 he and Auguste Salle were 

 making collections in Vera Cruz. After the death of Auguste Dume- 

 ril in 1871, during the siege of Paris, Firmin Bocourt was given the 

 task of completing the report upon the herpetological collections. 

 The aid of Paul Brocchi having been obtained, he was commissioned 

 to prepare the report on the amphibians, and this was published in 

 1882 under the title of "fitude desBatraciens de I'Amerique Centrale. " 

 Preliminary descriptions of the new species were published in 1877 

 and 1879. Two of those described as new, Leiuperus mexicanus and 

 Cauphias crassus, were collected by Adolphe Boucard. The types of 

 Hijla plicata and Leptodactylus fragilis were found by Firmin Bocourt. 

 In addition to the material assembled by the personnel of the mission, 

 the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle received herpetological 

 collections from Auguste Sall^, Consul Ghiesbreght, Baron Frederic 

 de Miiller, Francis Sumichrast, and Alfred Duges. Rhinophrynus 

 rostratus and Exerodonta sumichrasti were based upon specimens 

 received from Sumichrast. Sall^ collected the type of Bufo mexicanus 

 and Duges sent Brocchi the type of Scaphiopus dugesii. During the 

 years 1896 and 1897, L6on Diguet made collections in Mexico for the 

 Paris Museum, particularly in the State of Oaxaca, in the vicinity of 

 Guadalajara, Jalisco, and in the Territory of Tepic (Nayarit). In 

 reporting upon these collections in 1899, Mocquard recognized three 

 new species, which were named Rana trilobafa, Hyla rudis, and 

 Hyliola digueti. 



The British Museum of Natural History has a large representative 

 collection of Mexican amphibians, including the type specimens of 

 the species described by Giinther and Boulenger, In tabulating the 

 described species, the writer found that in this collection alone speci- 

 mens from Mexico have formed the basis for 27 species of tailless 

 amphibians. 



Previous to 1858, the British Museum had acquired by purchase, 

 gift, or exchange a small number of Mexican amphibians, among 

 which were several amphibians taken by Auguste Sall6 in Vera Cruz 

 and Oaxaca. On April 16, 1855, Sall^ and his companion Adolphe 

 Boucard were located at Tospam near Cordoba, Vera Cruz, where 

 they were visited by Francis Sumichrast. At Cordoba in Vera Cruz, 



