14 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL. MUSEUM vol.73 



In the spring of 1824 a living specimen was brought from Tampico 

 Tamaulipas, Mexico, by Captain Dallas, and presented to the Acad- 

 emy of Natural History, Philadelphia, where it remained alive for 

 several months. Mr. Harlan of the Academy Museum observed 

 this lizard for several months, and in November, 1824, published a 

 description of the specimen and notes on its habits in captivity. 

 The plate accompanying the description makes it very clear that 

 this species, which he called Cyclura teres, is in reality only an adult 

 of Cienosaura acanthura. With this evidence in hand and with 

 records of many additional findings of this species in the Tampico 

 district, I hereby restrict the type locality of Ctenosaura aranthura 

 to Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico. 



Wiegmann published in 1828 an account of a new species, Ctenosaura 

 cyduroides,^ based upon three specimens collected by Deppe in 

 "Mexico," the same year, and deposited in the Zoologische Museum 

 at Berlin, Germany. He created the genus Ctenosaura at this time. 

 His specimens were kept together as cotypes. No. 577, a male, and 

 Nos. 576 and 578, females. All were the same size and not over 

 one-third grown. No. 577, a cotype, is now in possession of the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology (M. C. Z. No. 2253), Cambridge, 

 Mass., received in exchange. The three specimens are certainly 

 Ctenosaura acanthura. A few years after describing Ctenosaura 

 cycluroides, Wiegmann, for some unknown reason, decided to rede- 

 scribe these same specimens. Accordingly he gave up the genus 

 Ctenosaura, that he had created in 1828, went back to the old genus 

 Cyclura and redescribed them in 1834 as Cyclura denticulata .^ using 

 specimen 578 as the type. In describing CT/cZurat^gw^icwZato Wiegmann 

 even lists Ctenosaura cycluroides as a synonym, but he assigns no reason 

 for putting away the original name. Perhaps he liked the new name 

 better. At any rate the types of both species were the same individ- 

 uals, in the same containers and they bore the same accession numbers, 

 locality labels, and collector's name, all in the handwriting of Wieg- 

 mann himself. How does the writer know these facts? Because in 

 examining the jar containing specimen number 577 the large printed 

 label bearing the name Cyclura denticulata accidently became saturated 

 with alcohol and water and slipped down the side of the jar, thereby 

 exposing the original label. The other jars were treated similarly and 

 yielded like results. A check-up on the specimens, with the curator 

 of the department in question, revealed the fact that the specimens 

 were the same individuals, only the original accession numbers of 

 Ctenosaura cycluroides being listed. 



In the same publication Wiegmann described a new species, Cyclura 

 articulata, giving as a synonym Iguana {Ctenosaura) armata, which 

 was described by Gray in 1831,^'' and which is Ctenosaura acanthura of 



» Wiegmann, V. J. Oken's Isis., p. 371, 1828. 



' Wiegmann, V. J. Herptologica Mexicana, pp. 43-44, 1834. 



«« Gray, (Cuvier) Griflith's Animal Kingdom, vol. 4, p. 38, 1831. 



