122 U- S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 206 



numbers, while a few of the examples show a teDdency towards mter- 

 grading patterns. Some of these specimens have the fingers webbed 

 only at the base; others have the fingers a little less than one-third 

 webbed. The length and shape of the snout varies even in this small 

 series. In another larger series from Bello Horizonte, Minas Gerais, the 

 hivittata coloration predominates, but occasional specimens show the 

 extreme minuta pattern, whUe a good many pattern intergrades are 

 present, as well as considerable variation in the webbing of fingers and 

 toes, length of femur, visibility of tympanum, shape of snout, and other 

 supposedly stable characters. 



A point-by-point checking of a cotype of minuta with the British 

 Museum specimen of hivittata shows only rather trivial differences in 

 the latter: Tongue two-thirds the width of mouth-opening; snout 

 moderate in length; distance of nostrils from end of snout about one- 

 half that from eye; tympanum fairly distinct, about two-fifths the 

 diameter of the eye; fingers webbed only at their base, disk of third 

 covering one-half the tympanic area; toes a little more than one-half 

 webbed, disk of fourth covering one-half the tympanic area; when 

 limbs are laid along the sides, knee and elbow overlap. The elongate 

 dark markings on the side of the back of the British Museum example 

 suggested a name for this form to Boulenger, who was apparently 

 unaware of the extreme variability of minuta. 



While specimens of unknown parentage cannot be used to prove a 

 real genetic proportion, there are suflScient specimens to permit some 

 correlation of color pattern with locality. 



The three patterns found in H. minuta may be described as follows : 

 a, A dark, white-bordered triangle on the head, its apex directed 

 posteriorly; a larger dark triangle touching the first, and with its apex 

 directed anteriorly; usually a crescentic or irregular marking behind 

 these triangles across lower sacral region; h, a dark squarish mark on 

 head, with its two posterior angles prolonged posteriorly into two 

 sUghtly diverging longitudinal stripes; c, heavy dark dots on the bacK 

 from between eyes to lower sacral region. 



Pattern a is found on frogs from Pernambuco, Minas Gerais, Rio de 

 Janeiro, and Bolivia; h, on frogs from Pernambuco, Minas Gerais, 

 Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and Santa Catarina; and c, only on frogs 

 from Rio de Janeiro (in two instances it seemed to overlay pattern h) . 

 Frogs having pattern a were more numerous than those having pattern 

 h in Pernambuco, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro; whereas pattern 

 h was dominant in frogs from Sao Paulo and Santa Catarina. 



In frogs from the north and west (Bolivia) pattern a tended to pre- 

 dominate, while in those from the south pattern h predominated. 

 Those from the most central of the three northern states, Rio de 

 Janeiro, had the greatest proportion of 6 to a (9 to 24). 



