FROGS OF SOUTHEASTERN BRAZIL — COCHRAN 121 



Color in life. — On three living frogs from Manguinhos collected on 

 January 25, 1935, the following color notes were taken on the same day: 

 Dorsmn pinkish buff, immaculate. Fingers primrose to maize yellow. 

 Toes pale chrome yellow. Venter in one example pale cream color, 

 in the other two with pale lemon hues. Limbs vinaceous-buff, almost 

 transparent. Iris silvery tinged with pink and other iridescent colors, 

 with many fine brown lines. Belly on sides transparent, opaque in 

 center. 



Variations. — The second cotype, also a female, is slightly heavier 

 in build than the one described but resembles it closely in all essentials; 

 the dark hourglass pattern is very evident, although not quite so 

 perfect, and the narrow white outline is lacking. The white line 

 appears, however, very conspicuously above the dark anal patch and 

 also across the heel. The light immaculate femur is a constant feature. 

 The tympanum is scarcely more visible than in the described frog, but 

 the glandular ridge above it is more prominent. 



Even with the few specimens at hand from near the city of Rio de 

 Janeiro, a considerable degree of variation is evidenced in the topo- 

 types of H. pallens. The vomerine teeth may be between the posterior 

 halves of the choanae, or entirely behind the level of their posterior 

 borders. The teeth may be heavy or moderate in development, in 

 either short transverse series or in longer, posteriorly converging ones. 

 The heel reaches sometimes to the nostril, sometimes to the end of the 

 snout. The tympanum may be most perceptible at its upper margin, 

 or the anterior margm may project most above the skin which rather 

 effectively veils the entire organ. 



The color pattern is more or less constant in having as its element the 

 three widened transverse crescents, the anterior two of which may 

 anastomose to form an X-shaped mark, but which apparently never 

 form longitudinal stripes posteriorly in the Manguinhos form, as they 

 do in Bello Horizonte. 



Remarks. — This small and perplexing species has given rise to great 

 confusion in collections, owing to the insufficiency of Peters' original 

 description and the lack of any figure of the cotypes. My comparison 

 of his cotypes with cotypes of H. pallens Lutz reveals, however, that 

 they are of the same species. Likewise, a close comparison of his 

 cotypes and an example labeled H. bivitiata Boulenger, from the 

 British Museum, has led me to the conclusion that the two names are 

 synonymous in spite of the apparently very dissimilar color pattern 

 found in extreme individuals. No single structural feature serves to 

 keep the species apart, nor any combination of characters, when a 

 series of more than two or three individuals is thoroughly examined. 

 In a series of 12 specimens from the Serra da Bocaina (USNM 96569- 

 80) both color patterns are present in the extremes in about equal 



