14 COPEIA 



wiped them out. (Extract from a letter from Mr. 

 W. N. Sands, Agricultural Superintendent, St. Vin- 

 cent. ) 



Trinidad. — Toads are plentiful, and about in the 

 wet season, breeding then. The wet season has been 

 very irregular lately. August-October is given as 

 the most likely time for securing material of the young 

 stages. (Information given in a letter from Mr. F. 

 W. Urich, Entomologist to the Board of Agriculture, 

 Trinidad.) v 



Demerara. — Bufo agua is extraordinarily com- 

 mon here and appears to breed about the commence- 

 ment of the wet season, somewhere in November or 

 thereabouts. (Extract from a letter from Mr. Gilbert 

 E. Bodkin, Government Economic Biologist, George- 

 town, Demerara.) 



Austin H. Clark, 



Washington, D. C. 



ON THE PROBxVBLE ORIGIN OF THE 



TYPE SPECIMEN OF COPE'S 



XANTUSIA PICTA. 



There can, I think, be no doubt that Cope's Xan- 

 tusia picta is the same species as Stejneger's Xan- 

 tusia henshawi. Cope, however, stated that the type 

 of X. picta was from Tejon Pass, California, a local- 

 ity situated much to the north of the known range of 

 X. henshawi. I shall attempt to show that it is almost 

 certain that Cope's type specimen really was collected 

 at Poway, San Diego County, California, not very 

 far from the type locality of Stejneger's species. The 

 evidence, although circumstantial, seems clear. It is 

 as follows: 



1. — The type of Xantusia picta was sent to Cope 

 by Mr. Rivers, who previously had sent Cope the type 

 of Xantusia riversiana, and who was in charge of the 

 natural history collections belonging to the Univer- 

 sity of California. 



