252 BARBOUR: ZOOGEOGRAPHY. 



Leptodactylus inoptatus, sp. nov. 



Type;— No. 3,087, M. C. Z., one male, Diquini, Haiti, W. M. Mann, 

 collector. 



Vomerine teeth in two curved series behind the choanae; tongue large, 

 slightly indented behind; nostrils very near tip of snout; tympanum circular, 

 over two thirds the diameter of the eye; interorbital space over twice width of 

 upper eyehd; first and second fingers equal in length; toes but very slightly 

 webbed at base, third and fifth of equal length; subarticular tubercles very 

 greatly developed, soles ahnost smooth; two metatarsal tubercles, the inner 

 near the origin of a vestigial dermal fold; tarsometatarsal joint reaching nostril 

 when the hind limb is carried forward along the body; skin smooth on middorsal 

 area, slightly granular on sides, coarsely granular on belly; two dorsolateral 

 glandular folds; a pronounced fold from eye over tympanum to shoulder; 

 ventral disc feebly marked ; figures and toes with slightly expanded tips ; fingers 

 and toes with well-developed dermal emarginal fingers; a spine-like tubercle 

 very prominent on posterior region of each eyelid. 



Color, middorsal area lilac or purplish brown; sides heavily marbled with 

 dusky olive; lower surfaces dirty white. A white spot near the shoulders on 

 each side. No white stripe on hps. 



In speaking of L. albilabris from Porto Rico, Stejneger says (Rept. U. S. 

 nat. mus. for 1902, 1904, p. 561): — 



" The status of the frog, Leptodactylus albilabris, is quite different from that of the other 

 species of the fauna. In the Antilles it is restricted to the Virgin Islands, St. Croix, Vieques 

 and Porto Rico. There is apparently no indigenous species of the genus in the Caribbean 

 chain, the other two which occut in various islands being evidentl.>- introduced by man and 

 belonging to widely tlitt'erent South American species. No Leptodactylus or related form is 

 found in Haiti, Cuba, or Jamaica. But the most curious feature is that a frog which neither 

 Dr. Boulenger nor I can distinguish from L. albilabris, is a native of southern Mexico, State 

 of Vera Cruz, and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. I know of absolutely no parallel to this 

 extraordinary range, which is inexplicable on ordinary distributional grounds, for certainly 

 it would transgress the boundaries of the probable to suppose either that this species had once 

 covered the whole country between Tehuantepec and the \'irgin Islands and become extinct 

 in the intermediate territory, or that there had at any time been a direct connection between 

 the localities mentioned to the exclusion of the large Antilles. Nor can it for a moment be 

 supposed that the .species exists in the latter without having attracted attention. No doubt 

 there are many species yet to be discovered in these islands, but L. albilabris is not likely to 

 be one of them, for it is one of the commonest, most obtrusive, and most easily caught ba- 

 trachians where\cr it occurs. In suggesting accidental introduction by man I am full.\- aware 

 that this explanation does not at first appear plausible, as there does not seem to be or to 

 have been anv direct route of communication between southern Mexico or Yucatan and 



