MEXICAN TAILLESS AMPHIBIANS O 



Colonel Graham caught up with Bartlett at the Calabassa Hacienda 

 on Santa Rita Mountain, Sonora. Both parties then proceeded on 

 their way to Santa Cruz. Although Bartlett does not specifically 

 state that Clark accompanied Colonel Graham on this trip, he must 

 have done so, for the type specimen of Hesperomys sonoriensis Le Conte 

 was collected at Santa Cruz in Sonora, about 6 miles south of the 

 Mexican boundary line. In that event the cotypes of Hyla afinis 

 Baird were collected somewhere along the route from Copper Mines 

 in New Mexico to Santa Cruz in Sonora. Baird published the descrip- 

 tion of this tree frog in 1854, and since the Boundary Commission, of 

 which Clark was the principal assistant and surveyor, did not resurvey 

 the Sonora boundary line until 1855, these cotypes must have been 

 collected in September or October, 1851. Additional details in regard 

 to Clark's field work will be found in the remarks under Bufo 

 pundatus (p. 62). 



Arthur C. V. Schott was appointed a collector and assigned to 

 the party of Lieut. A. W. Whipple by Commissioner Bartlett. Sub- 

 sequently Schott was transferred to the party working under the 

 direction of Maj. William H. Emory. During the period between 

 September, 1851, and October, 1854, Schott evidently was assigned to 

 work along the Rio Grande. One of the cotypes of Bufo debilis was 

 collected during this period. In October, 1854, when the Boundary 

 Commission was again reorganized, Schott was assigned as an assist- 

 ant to Lieut. N. Michler, and this division proceeded through New 

 Mexico to California. After establishing the initial point of the 

 boundary line on the Colorado River, Michler's party journeyed to 

 Tucson, Ariz., along the wagon road that followed the Gila River. 

 Pending the arrival of Major Emory, the party remained in Tucson, 

 and it was not until June 26, 1855, that the survey of the oblique 

 line from Los Nogales to the Colorado River was comm.enced. Two 

 of the cotypes of Bufo alvarius were collected by Schott during the 

 survey of this line. 



In July, 1853, the Smithsonian Institution received another collec- 

 tion of amphibians from Mexico. The records show that Professor 

 Baird corresponded with Maj. William Rich at Mexico City as early 

 as September, 1852, and in the following year a small miscellaneous 

 collection from him was received. Among these specimens were two 

 tree frogs that became the cotypes of Flyla eximia and a small series 

 of frogs that formed the basis for Rana montezumae. 



To Lieut. Darius Nash Couch the Museum is indebted for one of 

 the largest Mexican collections received in the early days of the 

 Smithsonian Institution. He conducted the exploring expedition that 

 survej^ed northern Mexico for a Pacific railroad and that set out on 

 March 1, 1853, from Matamoros in Tamaulipas and passed through 

 Nuevo Leon and Coahuila to at least as far as the Rio Nasas in 

 Durango. The type specimens of Bufo speciosus Girard, Scaphiopus 



