ABT. 17 EAST AFRICAN VERTEBRATES LOVERIDGE 67 



If the subspecies isaheUinus Giinther is recognizable, then all these 

 examples should be referred to that form on the strength of the 

 large, flat scutes on the occipital lobes which differ so strikingly from 

 those of typical West African dilepis; the commissure of the mouth 

 is proportionately longer, but there is no appreciable difference in 

 the scutes on the crown, being "flat, not tubercular." 



They were fed upon small grasshoppers, which they ate with avid- 

 ity; apparently flies were only taken when the reptiles were hungry. 

 I had no idea that chameleons would drink, but on my return from 

 Manyoni I placed bowls of water in their cages and saw many cha- 

 meleons descend to the edge of the bowl and drink as deeply as a 

 tortoise would. Worms {Strongylurus hrevicauda) were recovered 

 from the stomach of one that died. 



AMPHIBIA 



XENOPUS MDLLEBI Peters 

 MtJIIER'S SMOOTH-CLAWED FROG 



Common in the deeper wells and water holes near Dodoma town- 

 ship and in marshy spots at Ikikuyu, a few miles from the town. 

 As the water in the wells was 15 feet below the level of the ground, 

 apparently it is impossible for these frogs to escape except perhaps 

 during the rainy season. 



The tentacle of an adult taken on May 14, 1926, measures three- 

 quarters the diameter of the eye, but in two young ones collected on 

 August 19, 1926, the tentacles are barely distinguishable and without 

 the adult I should have referred them to X. laevis. When the fingers 

 of the right hand are laid together their relative length from the 

 longest to the shortest are 2d, 3d= 1st, 4th; on the left hand 2d, 3d, 

 1st, 4th. 



Two score small frogs taken from Ikikuyu were safely landed in 

 the United States, where they have been doing v/ell for the last six 

 months. 



RANA MASCARENIENSIS DumSril and Bibron 

 MASCAEENE FROG 



Twenty-eight specimens collected at Dodoma, Bahi, and Mukwese. 

 One was taken in an empty packing case in a back yard of a vacant 

 house at Dodoma, a long way from the nearest water. 



On the outward voyage when we put into Kilindini Harbor, Kenya 

 Colony, on May 3, 1926, Mascarene frogs were seen and heard calling. 

 At Dodoma a great many were eaten by the sharp-nosed snakes 

 (RhampMopMs oxyrhynchus) . 



