202 



BULLETIN 160, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



acters are given in the description of this species that can not be 

 matched in specimens from Central America. Giinther based his 

 Rana melanosoma on smooth-skinned specimens from Duenas in 

 Guatemala and from Hacienda Rosa de Jericho in Nicaragua. The 

 specimens are immature and the largest individual has a head-and- 

 body length of 65 mm. The toes are webbed to the distal end of the 

 penultimate joint, or nearly so. 



The type of Rana brevipalmata rhoadsi (A.N.S.P. No. 18051) came 

 from Bucay, Province of Guayas, in western Ecuador. Fowler recog- 

 nized the resemblance in coloration between his supposedly new form 

 and Cope's R. brevipalmata, but held that a new name was warranted 

 because the diameter of the tympanum was only two-thirds that of 

 the eye and the snout was shorter. The type is a young frog with a 

 head-and-body length of 43 mm. 



The habitat of this species in Vera Cruz is described by Ruthven 

 as follows : ^^ 



This species was observed in some numbers along La Laja Creek and at Lake 

 Catemaco, but specimens were very diiBcult to secure. It was found only where 

 the shores were densely covered with vegetation, usually where there were bushes 

 hanging low over the water. In such places the individuals stayed well out from 

 shore, upon sticks or low branches, and upon the slightest alarm leaped into the 

 water, where they were very difficult to see even when partially above the surface. 



The following observations on the general coloration of this frog in 

 life are based on specimens collected by C. R. Halter in Nicaragua:^* 



The variation in color of our specimens is limited to the fading out of the ground 

 tone and to the developing of spots on the posterior part of the back. In life 

 the color above was grass-green from the tip of the snout to the tympanum and 

 olive from the tympanum to the ends of the appendages. In certain lights a 

 bronze-like shimmer was present on the head. The posterior sides of the legs 

 were mottled with dark brown and white. The lower parts of the legs were less 

 distinctly mottled with brown. The throat was pearly white; the belly and 

 ventral surfaces of the appendages were washed with lemon yellow. The pos- 

 terior appendages were heavily mottled with brown below. 



Specimens examined. — Fourteen as follows: 



Rana palmipes 



Museum 



M.C.Z.. 



U.S.N.M 

 Do.. 

 Do.. 



Do.. 



Do... 

 Do... 

 Do.. 



Catalogue 

 No. 



8433 



4791 



47n5-16 



20165 



47119 



30329-31 



30485-88 



46762 



Num- 

 ber of 

 speci- 

 mens 



Locality collected 



Vera Ceuz: 



A 1 varado 



Jalapa _ 



Tlacotalpam 



MORELOs: Cuernavaca 



Oaxaca: 



Mountains near Santo Do- 

 mingo, altitude 1,600 feet. 



City of Tehuantepec 



do 



Chiapas: Mountains near 



Tonala. 



Date collected 



May 18,1894 

 Aug. —.1892 



June 16,1895 



Aug. 15,1895 



By whom collected or 

 from whom received 



E. R. Dunn. 

 R. Monies d'Oca. 

 Nelson and Goldman. 

 P. L. Jouy. 



Nelson and Goldman. 



Francis Sumichrast. 



Do. 

 Nelson and Goldman. 



" Ruthven, A. O., Zool. Jahrb. (Syst. Abt.), vol. 32, pt. 4, p. 306, 1912. 



'• Noble, Q. K., The amphibians collected by the American Museum expedition to Nicaragua in 1916 . 



■Riill Amftr lVTii<! Nat VfWt. vr>l SS art in n 317 1Q1« 



