MEXICAN TAILLESS AMPHIBIANS 119 



1882. Hyla crassa Boulenger, Catalogue of the Batrachia Salientia s. Ecaudata 

 in the collection of the British Museum, 2d edit., p. 396. — GtJNTHER, 1901, 

 Biologia Centrali-Americana, Reptilia and Batrachia, p. 281, Sept. 



Type locality. — Mexico. 



Range. — Unknown. 



Remarks. — There is no certainty that this amphibian was actually 

 collected in Mexico. As originally described this species was placed 

 in the genus Cauphias, which has for its genotype Cauphias guatema- 

 lensis. Brocchi evidently considered that Cauphias guatemalensis and 

 C. crassum were related to Hylodes [=Eleutherodactylus], since they are 

 placed after Hylodes in the family Hylodidae. A specimen of 

 Cauphias guatemalensis ^'^ recently taken at Panajachel, near Solola, 

 Lake Atitlan, at an altitude of 4,500 feet in the mountains of Guatemala, 

 conclusively shows that this species is related to Eleutherodactylus. 

 The webbing of the hind feet, however, of both Cauphias guatemalensis 

 and C. crassum is quite unlike any known Eleutherodactylus. 



The two cotypes of Cauphias guatemalensis (M.H.N.P. No. 509^, 

 parchment label No. 6332) were collected at Pacicilla, Guatemala, by 

 Adolphe Boucard in 1873. They are, respectively, one adult and one 

 immature individual. The head-and-body length of the largest indi- 

 vidual is 54,5 mm. The diagnostic characters of this species may be 

 described briefly as follows : The hind limb being carried forward along 

 the body, the tibio-tarsal joint reaches to posterior margin or to center 

 of eye; a well-developed tarsal fold extends full length of tarsus; a 

 large inner, but no outer metatarsal tubercle; toes fully webbed, 

 slightly scalloped; first finger bifurcated at base; fingers 2, 3, and 4 

 slightly webbed at base; well-developed and rounded apical disks; no 

 external indication of tympanum; a thick dermal fold from posterior 

 margin of eye curves backward and downward to origin of fore limb; 

 vomerine teeth in two transverse rows behind but within level of 

 inner margins of choanae; can thus rostralis distinct; loreal region sub- 

 vertical; skin of upperparts, top of head, upper surfaces of fore and 

 hind limbs with scattered tubercles; skin of throat, abdomen, and 

 under surface of thighs coarsely granular; coloration of upperparts 

 (in alcohol) uniformly bluish slate. 



The first finger of Cauphias guatemalensis has a well-developed 

 clawlike vestige of the pollex buried in a fleshy apophysis, which 

 seemingly arises from the side of the thumb, giving a pecuHar bifid 

 appearance to that digit. This same structure is present on the 

 immature individual, but is not developed on the first finger of Cauphias 

 crassum. There are striking similarities in the general build of these 

 two species that are apparent when they are compared side by side. 

 Boulenger referred this short-toed and nearly fully webbed crassum 

 to the genus Hyla, but this is incorrect since the type has T-shaped 



M Barbour, T., Cauphias rediscovered. Copeia, no. 165, pp. 96-98, Dec. 23, 1927. 



