MEXICAN TAILLESS AMPHIBIANS 



89 



The type of Cope's Cystignathus perlaevis (U.S.N. M. No. 10041), 

 which was found in a well near Japana, in western Tehuantepec, is 

 simply an emaciated and somewhat faded specimen of an adult Lep- 

 todactylus melanonotus. 



Ruthven ^^ writes that Leptodadylus caliginosus is not uncommon 

 at Cuatotolapam and Lake Catemaco, in southern Vera Cruz. He 

 says: 



In those in which the color was examined in life the ground color above was 

 brownish orange (138) ,^8 the margin of the occipital spot a pale dull j-ellow (153d), 

 and the ventral parts black and white or gray and white. The colors of the 

 dorsal surface are frequently darker, however, and the pale margin of the occipital 

 spot is not always well defined. The dark head markings are quite regular in 

 arrangement, consisting of a band along the canthus rostralis, one from the lower 

 part of the anterior margin of the orbit to the mouth and two from the posterior 

 margin of the orbit on the neck, the lower involving the tympanum. These dark 

 bands with the occipital spot are usually' margined with pale yellow, and the pale 

 lines that margin the dark bands on the canthus rostralis are often connected 

 with the anterior margin of the occipital spot to form a triangle. These light 

 bands are frequently more or less obsolete, occasionally entirely so. 



This little amphibian, while not uncommon in the region studied, is so secretive 

 as to be little in evidence. We only found it under logs and other decaying vege- 

 table debris in the vicinity of water. It is quite generally distributed on low 

 ground, however, occurring both in the woods and on the prairie. It breeds in 

 the lowland forest pools and in swampy places on the shores of Lake Catemaco, 

 in July and August, and immature individuals were taken in both places. 



Specimens examined. — Sixty-three, as follows: 



Leptodadylus melanonohis 



Museum 



U.S.N.M. 

 Do... 



Do. 

 Do. 



F.M.N.H. 



M.C.Z.... 



U.S.N.M. 



Do.... 

 F.M.N.H- 



U.S.N.M.. 



Do.... 



Do.... 

 F.M.N.H. 

 U.S.N.M.. 



Do.... 



Do.... 



Do.... 



Catalogue 

 No. 



25154-59 

 14080 



1483 



8369-73 

 16552-56 



57765 



1631 



17439-40 



30523-24 

 10041 

 1366 

 30300-01 

 30437-52 

 70402-03 

 30116-25 



Nnin-| 

 bar of 

 sped- ! 

 mens I 



2 

 ■■ 1 



Locality collected 



Sinaloa: 

 Mazatlan 



Presidio, .50 miles from Maz- 

 atlan. 

 Guanajuato: 



Guanajuato 



do 



Vera Cruz: 

 Achotol 



Alvarado 



Vicinity of Orizaba. 

 Colima: 



Colima 



do 



Jalisco: Guadalajara 



Oaxaca: 

 Barrio in Tehuantepec 

 Japana in Tehuantepec. 



Rio Obispo... 



Tehuantepec 



do. 



do 



Tehuantepec (west side) . 



Date collected 



Apr. 3, 1884 



187 

 -do. 



By whom collected or 

 from whom received 



Ferdinand Bischoff. 

 jVlphonso Forrer. 



Alfred Duges. 

 Do. 



/Dec. — , 19041 I 

 Uan. — , 1905/ [ 

 1921 



July 8. 1902 



Apr. 24,1903 



E. Heller and C 



Barber. 

 E. R. Dunn. 

 Francis Sumichrast. 



J. Hurter. 



C. H. T. Townsend. 



.\lfred Dugfs. 



Francis Sumichrast. 



Do. 

 S. E. Meek. 

 Francis Sumichrast. 



Do. 



Do. 



Do. 



M. 



"■ Type Cystignathw microixs. 



^ Type Cystignathus perlaevis. 



Ruthven, A. Q., Zool. Jahrb. (Syst. Abt.), vol. 32, pt. 4, pp. 306, 307, 1912. 

 The numbers refer to the "Code des Couleurs," by Elincksiek and Vallete. 



