MEXICAN TAILLESS AMPHIBIANS 



195 



rictus oris; tympanum occasionally reddish brown; a short 

 oblique dark bar extends downward upon front of forelimb; 

 hind limbs with or without more or less regular dark cross 

 bands; hinder surface of thighs often vermiculated with black 

 and yellow, or marbled with dark brown and yellow; under 

 surface of thighs mottled or marbled with dark brown; throat 

 and chest sometimes entirely brown or heavily marked with 

 blotches and fine specks of same color; abdomen generally 

 uniform white, often yellow and mottled or spotted with some 

 darker color; sides yellowish, vermiculated or mottled with 

 dark brown or black; head-and-body length of adults, 95 to 

 125 mm palmipes (p. 200) 



RANA CATESBEIANA Shaw 



Common Bullfrog 



Figures 21, 22, and 23 



1802. Rana catesbeiana Shaw, General zo- 

 ology, vol. 3, pt. 1, p. 106, pi. 33.— 



Storer, 1925, Univ. California Publ. 



Zool., vol. 27, p. 276, pi. 18, figs. 



53-56.— Wright, 1929, Proc. U. S. 



Nat. Mus., vol. 74, no. 2756, pp. 8, 



37, pi. 8, figs. 7-9. 

 1889. Rana catesbiana Cope, U. S. Nat. 



Mus. Bull. 34, p. 424, fig. 108.— 



DicKERSON, 1906, The frog book, p. 



227, pis. 87, 89-96. 



Type locality. — South Carolina. 



Range. — Probably restricted in 

 Mexico to the coastal lowlands of 

 Tamaiilipas and northern Vera Cruz, 

 and to the tributaries of the Rio 

 Grande in the northern Mexican 

 States. 



Remarks. — According to Stejneger and Barbour, ^* "Shaw evidently 

 knew of the Bull Frog, principally from Catesby, but he speaks of 

 it only as being North American and apparently saw no actual 

 specimens himself." It seems desirable to select a more definite 

 type locality than North America for this species. The assumption 

 that Shaw based his description upon the account of this species by 

 Catesby appears well founded. According to his brief itinerary, 

 Mark Catesby arrived in Virginia, where he had relatives, on April 23, 

 1712, and remained there for seven years. He had not as yet given 

 any thought to the publication of a work on natural history and had 

 evidently made no drawings, although during this sojourn he did 

 collect a few plants for a friend in England. On his next visit to 

 North America, Catesby landed on May 23, 1722, at Charleston, 



Figure 21. — Diagrammatic ventral view of 

 shoulder girdle of Rana catesbeiana; flrmisternal 

 in structure. The inner extremities of the 

 clavicle and coracoid are attached to the 

 epicoracoid cartilage, and the opposite halves 

 of the girdle are incapable of movement 



CI., clavicle; Co., coracoid; E., episternum; 

 Mes., sternum or mesosternum; O., omoster- 

 num; Sc, scapula; .Y., xiphisternura 



" Stejneger, L., and Barbour, T., A check list of North American amphibians and reptiles, p. 35, 1923. 

 Cambridge, Mass. 



