FROGS OF SOUTHEASTERN BRAZIL — COCHRAN 29 



Among the sixteen specimens from Nova Fribm-go, the scapular 

 ridges are distinct in only one. The warts are fairly continuous down 

 the sides behind the parotoids in a little over half the specimens, this 

 character being very fluctuating in this species as well as in B. 

 paracnemis. 



Other examples from Guapi near Teres6polis agree very well with 

 these, as do likewise those from Sao Paulo. It was interesting to note 

 that well-marked individuals of paracnemis were found in the same 

 places as ictericus, proving the ability of both to exist as distinct 

 species without intergrading. Apparently ictericus frequents streams 

 all of the time while paracnemis roams widely on the drier parts of the 

 mountain ridges except during the actual breeding season when it also 

 must resort to the water. It seems to be the predominant form in the 

 States of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. 



If specific distinction were based solely on the shape and size of the 

 parotoid glands of the giant toads, it would still be possible to separate 

 most of the individuals at hand, for the parotoids do not vary so much 

 in these groups when separated geographically as has been heretofore 

 believed. A survey of sixteen B. ictericus from Nova Friburgo shows 

 the parotoids to be elliptical (that is, posteriorly rounded) in all but 

 one specimen, in which they are more elongate. The parotoids are 

 between 28 and 35 percent of the total length in these adults, averaging 

 32 percent. In 38 B. paracnemis from Minas Gerais, the length of the 

 parotoids was 23 to 31 percent of the total length, averaging 26 percent, 

 and they tapered posteriorly in all but two specimens, in each of which 

 the tapering was slight. The latter species can of course be dis- 

 tinguished at once by the possession of the large tibial gland not present 

 in ictericus. The northern form from Amazonas and Rio Negro, to 

 which the name B. marinus is apparently correctly applied, has the 

 parotoids much wider and also much shorter, their average being 24 

 percent of the total length in eleven from Lower Amazonia, and 22 

 percent in seven from Rio Negro. B. ictericus seems to be completely 

 divided geographically, at least in eastern Brazil, from the northern 

 marinus by the species paracnemis, which occupies Minas Gerais, 

 Bahia, and Pernambuco, living in dry upland regions which are 

 impossible to the more aquatic marinus and ictericus. 



Specimens examined 



BRAZIL: 



Bahia: MRHN IG 9308 Reg. 34b (14). Salinas, USNM 119111-2, Johnson, 



February 1944. 

 DisTRicTO Federal: Pico de Tijuca, MZUM 104298, Bailey, 1941. Recreio 



dos Bandeirantes, USNM 97574, B. Lutz, Cochran, and Venancio, Feb. 10, 



1935. 



