1905.] AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES. 203 



Spelerpes. — This large genus, composed of about 20 species, 

 ranges from Massachusetts into North-western South America. 

 At least 10 sj)ecies live in Mexico, 9 of them south of a line drawn 

 from Guadalajai'a to Tuxpan on the Atlantic ; some of them 

 extend into Guatemala and Costa Rica. S, yucatcmicus in Yucatan. 

 A few occui' as far south as Peru ; one, aS'. infuscatits, inhabits 

 Hayti, and S.fuscus lives in Saixlinia and Northern Italy. 



The distribution of the Mexican species is important. The 

 Aztec name is " Tlaconete " = little land creature. 



*S'. cephcdicus^ described by Cope from " North-eastern Mexico." 

 No Spelerpes seem to occur in Texas ; the nearest American species, 

 ^S'. muUiplicatas^ lives in Arkansas ; 8. orizahensis and S. lineoh(,s, 

 the latter with tiny, I'oduced limbs, are known only from the 

 mountain of Orizaba, S. orizahensis ranging between 8000 to 12,000 

 feet. 



S. leprosus, of which gibbicauchos Blatchley is a not unfrequent 

 individual variation, is common in the mixed and pine forests of 

 the mountain of Orizaba, up to 12,000 feet. It has also been 

 recorded from the north slope of Popocatepetl, 9000 feet, and from 

 the mountains of Jalapa. 



jS. morio from " Jalapa," and from Tlalpam, which lies between 

 Mexico City and Lake Xochimilco, in flat, sandy, moist terrain, 

 with meadows and willows. It appears again far in the south, in 

 Guatemala and Costa Rica. 



S. chiro'pterus. Mountain of Orizaba, from the town, 4000 feet 

 up to near 10,000 feet; " Jalapa," and Cuernavaca which has an 

 elevation of 5000 feet. " Yera Cruz " must be left as a doubtful 

 locality. 



;S'. rufescens is recorded from " Orizaba," Cordoba, Yera Cruz, 

 Tehuantepec, Chiapas, and Tabasco ; all in the Tiei'ra Caliente, 

 except the first locality. 



*S'. variegat'us ranges from the Yalley of Mexico, Orizaba (from 

 9000 feet downwards), Jalapa, Cordoba, right through the forest of 

 the Tiei-ra Caliente and through the whole of Centi-al America tc 

 Costa Rica. I found it on Orizaba mountain, as well as at San Juan 

 Evangelista, which lies scarcely higher than 100 feet above the 

 sea, in the same grovind with Dermopiliis. 



S. imiformis, with reduced limbs like >S'. lineolus, described from 

 Costa Rica, elevation of 5000 feet, is said also to have come from 

 " Yera Cruz." 



Lastly, S. belli : mountains of Jalapa, Orizaba, Mexico, 

 Zacualtipan, Guanajuato, Guadalajara, Sierra de Nayarit ; and 

 at Omilteme, west of Chilpancingo. This species alone has found 

 its way across the plateau, following the belt of alluvial deposits 

 described elsewhere (p. 237). With the exception of this transverse 

 belt, the distribution of Mexican Newts coincides closely with the 

 broad band of Ci-etaceous limestone which extends from Nuevo 

 Leon to the Isthmus, with intricate but almost continuous 

 patches verging fi'om Cordoba and Orizaba south-westwards to 

 Chilpancingo. This limestone terrain was the only one available 



