92 BULLETIN 151, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Class AMPHIBIA 



Order SALIENTIA 



Family PIPIDAE 



Genus XENOPUS Wagler 



XENOPUS LAEVIS (Daudin) 



Bufo laevis Daudin, 1803, Hist. Nat. des Rainettes, p. 56, pi. 30, fig. 1. (Type 



locality unknown.) (Boulenger's citation of p. 85 is incorrect.) 

 Xenopus laevis Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Brit. Mus., p. 456, text fig. 



10 (U.S.N.M. 40904-12, 41712) Lake Naivasha, K. C. (Sm. Afr. 

 Exped.) 1909. 



22 (U.S.N.M. 40716-26, 40959-60, 41680-1, 41683-4, 41803-6) South- 

 ern Guaso Nyiro, K. C. (Sm. Afr. Exped.) 1909. 



1 (U.S.N.M. 40690) Mt. Kenya to Fort Hall, mostly Kasorongai River, 



K. C. (Sm. Afr. Exped.) 1909. 



2 (U.S.N.M. 40756-7) Ulukenya Hills, K. C. (Sm. Afr. Exped.) 1909. 

 1 (U.S.N.M. 41002) Juja Farm, K. C. (Sm. Afr. Exped.) 1909. 



1 (U.S.N.M. 41296) Wambugu, K. C. (Sm. Afr. Exped.) 1909. 



3 (U.S.N.M. 58090-2) Mt. Kenya, K. C. (J. Hurler) 1909. 

 1 (U.S.N.M. 63066) Fort Hall, K. C. (Mearns) 1909. 



The series of smooth-clawed frogs from the southern Guaso Nyiro 

 are exceptionally large for East Africa. The biggest example (No. 

 40716) measures 103 mm. from snout to vent but a dozen others are 

 but little shorter. No. 63066 has evidently been removed from the 

 stomach of a snake and is partly digested; its own stomach holds a 

 large quantity of hairlike algae. In captivity it is not unusual to see 

 members of this genas seize pond weed, apparently in mistake for 

 worms, but they usually reject it; che large quantity in this specimen 

 appears to argue that vegetable matter may sometimes be taken 

 intentionally. Owing to the poor state of preservation of many of 

 the frogs in the above series their iodividual identification has been 

 of necessity somewhat a matter of guesswork. The promiuence, or 

 otherwise, of the metatarsal tubercle as a means of distinguishing 

 East African laevis from muelleri is of little assistance, as it seems to 

 be almost equally prominent in adults of both species; in South 

 African laevis, however, it is much less prominent. 



• XENOPUS MUELLERI (Peters) 



Dactylethra muelleri Peters, 1844, Monatsber. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, p. 37. 

 (Mozambique.) 



Xenopus muelleri Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Brit. Mus., p. 457. — Love- 

 ridge, 1928, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 73, art. 17, p. 67. 



1 (U.S.N.M. 19774) Dar es Salaam, T. T. (W. Schlutcr) N. D. 

 1 (U.S.N.M. 41502) Nairobi, K. C. (Sm. Afr. Exped.) 1909. 



While the Dar es Salaam frog is quite typical, the Nairobi specimen 

 is somewhat intermediate; neither appear to be fully adult. 



