MEXICAN TAILLESS AMPHIBIANS 

 PHYLLOMEDUSA HELENAE (Cope) 



Banana Frog 



145 



1884. Agalychnis helenae Cope, Proc. Araer. Philos. Soc, vol. 22, pt. 2, no. 118, 

 p. 182, Dec. 19. 



Type locality. — Nicaragua. 



Range. — From Costa Rica and Nicaragua northward through 

 Tabasco to Piiebla. 



Remarks. — The type of this species (U.S.N.M. No. 13737) was 

 collected on December 4, 1883, by Lieut. J. F. Moser. Although 

 this frog is widely known in Central America as the banana frog, 

 there are very few published observations on its habits. Clarence R. 

 Halter kept a record in liis field notebook of the color changes observed 

 on a captive frog taken from the upper side of a leaf on a banana tree 

 standing near the edge of the jungle at Colorado Bar, northeastern 

 Costa Rica. The following notes published by Noble ^^ were extracted 

 from this notebook: 



During captivity, the dorsal coloration was subject to considerable variation. 

 Generally the ground tone was a dark slaty green or a bright leaf-green. A 

 number of pale green spots would often appear. These did not seem to be 

 dependent upon the intensity of the light. They appeared irregularly scattered 

 over the back. Sometimes they would form an H-shaped mark just anterior to 

 the pectoral girdle. The changes in the color of the ground tone did not seem to 

 be correlated with changes in the lighting. The concealed portions of the legs, 

 which appear purplish in alcohol, were a deep blue in life. The feet and hands 

 were brilliant orange. The edge of the upper ej^elid was a deep yellow, in striking 

 contrast to the orange-red iris. The ventral surface of the throat and bod}' was 

 yellowish white, of the anterior appendages a slaty color, of the posterior append- 

 ages a yellowish white washed entirely, except for a narrow strip, with the deep 

 blue of the concealed portions. 



The specimen was rather awkward in its movements. Before jumping, it would 

 crouch on all fours with appendages at right angles to the axis of the body. It 

 would then laboriously raise the body about an inch from the ground. It would 

 remain in that position for a few seconds, studying the nearby objects, and then 

 would suddenly leap toward one. 



Halter suggests that the breeding season in eastern Nicaragua may 

 occur about the end of August, inasmuch as a female with ovaries 

 distended \\dth eggs was taken during that month at Culvra. 



Specimens examined. — Two, as follows: 



w Noble, G. K., The amphibians collected by the American Museum Expedition to Nicaragua in 1916 

 Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 38, art. 10, pp. 343, 344, pi. 16, fig. 2, 1918. 



