Vol. 5, p. 161-162. June 24, 1925. 



Occasional Papers 



OF THE 



Boston Society of Natural History. 



A NEW TREE-TOAD FROM JAMAICA.^ 



BY EMMETT R. DUNN. 



More intimate knowledge of Salientia in the field has resulted 

 of late in a considerable increase in the number of species known 

 to inhabit any given locality; and while this is largely on account 

 of the discovery of actual novelties, much of it comes from the 

 realization that variation in these forms is not so excessive as 

 had been supposed and that '^ varieties" and ''young" are often 

 perfectly independent species. These facts are elicited espe- 

 cially by observation of habits, by attention to the character- 

 istic calls, and by collection of large series. No better example 

 of the value of large series can be given than the present, when 

 119 specimens of a small and very distinct new Hyla were col- 

 lected by Dr. and Mrs. H. H. Wilder during a two weeks' so- 

 journ in Jamaica last March. It may be very appropriately 

 called 



Hyla wilderi, sp. nov. 



Type. — No. 10500, Museum of Comparative Zoology, adult male. Col- 

 lected by Dr. and Mrs. H. H. Wilder. March, 1925. 



Type locality. — Moneague, Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica; altitude 1200 feet. 



Range. — Probably widespread in the island. Recorded from Mandeville 

 by Barbour (BuU. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 52, p. 288, 1910). 



Diagnosis. — A small Hyla with skin of head free from cranium; fingers 

 free; toes one-third webbed (two phalanges of IV free); vomerine teeth in two 

 small patches between the choanae and on a line with their posterior borders; 

 light nile green; bones green in Hfe; male with a black thumb-pad made up of 

 about 25 conical points; female with a yellow interocular band. Length 

 from snout to vent 29 mm. 



Description of type. — Tongue broader than long, sHghtly emarginate behind; 

 vomerine teeth in two groups the size of the choanae, equidistant from choanae 

 and from each other, on a level with the posterior margin of the former; head 

 broader than long; nostrils at the tip of the snout; the distance from mid- 

 point of snout to nostril contained more than twice in the distance from 

 nostril to eye; snout rounded; interorbital width equals the diameter of the 

 eyes; no indication of ossification in derm of head; a supra -tympanic fold; 

 tympanum distinct, directed upward, distant one-third its diameter from eye, 

 equal to one-third the diameter of the eye; canthus rostraUs rounded, the 

 loreal region slightly concave; heel reaching hind edge of eye; digits with 

 disks slightly smaller than tympanum; fingers free; toes one- third webbed, 

 two phalanges of IV free, one phalanx of II, III, and V free, I free. Thumb 

 with a black horny patch on inner edge that consists of about 25 conical 

 points fused at their bases; skin finely granular, almost smooth; belly and 



^ Contribution from the Smith College Department of Zoology, No. 129. 



