HEEPETOLOGY OF PORTO RICO. 555 



eral. At present one may traverse the island from one end to the 

 other without getting a glimpse of a single one. 



The apparent rarity- of the toad [Biifn humir) is i)robal)ly due less 

 to the mongoose than to its very retired hal)its and the scarcity of 

 suital>lo localities. The name Sapo is known to the inhahitants, but 

 inmost places is misapplied to the Leptodactyhis and the tree toad. 

 8ome even knew the name S<q>o coiicho^ b}'^ which the Porto Kican 

 toad is known spe('ilically because of the shell-like hardness of the 

 bonv head covering, but no one seemed able to give us any informa- 

 tion which would lead to its discovery. P>en a large reward which I 

 oti'ered proved ineti'ective. Dr. Stahl, who, during a residence of more 

 than forty years, had collected assiduously, and to whom the country 

 people used to bring all the natural curiosities they could tind, assured 

 us that he himself had never seen the toad in its native haunts, and 

 that altogether only six specimens had been brought him, so that our 

 prospects of finding it were very slight. Mr. Baker and the Fish 

 Couuuission party had also failed to obtain a single specimen. We 

 were constantly watching for it, and nearly despaired of getting one 

 but finally decided to spend some time in Arecibo as the most likely 

 place for them to occur. Even here we were on the point of giving 

 up our search for the now almost mythical animal, when on the last 

 night of our stay there, after our baggage was packed for our depart- 

 ure the next morning, I became the happy possessor of five fine speci- 

 men^, thauks to the zealous and intelligent assistance of Enrique L. 

 Brascoechea, a young Porto Rican of Aguadilla, a United States tele- 

 graph operator, and at the time temporarily in charge of the telegraph 

 office in Arecibo. 



During this trip I psiid special attention to the colors of the living 

 reptiles and bati'achians which I collected, and full descriptions were 

 prepared with Kidgway's Nomenclator of Colors in hand for reference. 

 These descriptions will 1>e found in the present account under their 

 proper headings. 



The figures illustrating this paper are mostl}^ the work of Mr. R. G. 

 Paine. A few have been drawn by Miss Sigrid Bentzon. 



The author wishes to express his obligations to various yjersons who 

 have assisted in accunmlating the material at hand, either directly by 

 collecting part of it or indirectly by assisting him while in Porto Rico. 



Thanks are particularly due to the authorities of the U. S. Fish 

 Commission for the use of the magnificent collections made by the 

 Fhh Ilaivk expedition, and to Mr. A. B. Baker for the zeal and care 

 displayed in getting together the finest collection of reptiles made up 

 to that time in Porto Rico. I am also under ol)ligations to Mr. Louis 

 McCormick, Mr. B. S. Bowdish, Mr. ('harles E. Adams, and Dr. A. 

 Stahl, for specimens collected by them in various parts of the island 

 and presented to the National Museum. 



