[Annals N. Y. Acad. Sci., Vol. XXVIII, pp. 167-200. 8 September, 11)20] 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HERPETOLOGY OF PORTO RICO 

 By Karl Patterson Schmidt 



As a part of the Scientific Survey of Porto Rico inaugurated by the 

 New York Academy of Sciences and carried on with the cooperation of 

 The American Museum of Natural History and. other institutions, it was 

 my good fortune to conduct the first herpetological field-work in the 

 summer of 1919. For this purpose Mrs. Schmidt and I spent the period 

 from August 3 to October 8 on Porto Rico and the adjacent islands, 

 which are under the same political jurisdiction. 



For cordial assistance in furthering our work, I am especially grateful 

 to Mr. and Mrs. B. A. Wall, of San Juan ; Mr. E. M. Bruner, Forester of 

 Porto Rico ; Mr. Marc Lejeune, of Mayaguez, who made possible the trip 

 to Mona Island, and to Colonel George A. Shanton, Chief of the Insular 

 Police. 



The exceptionally thorough and exhaustive "Herpetology of Porto 

 Rico" by Dr. Leonhard Stejneger is available as a handbook of the rep- 

 tiles and amphibians, making it possible to identify the species in the 

 field and thus facilitating the study of habits and habitat association^. - 

 Dr. Stejneger has given an excellent resume of herpetological work on 

 Porto Rico previous to his own. The herpetological papers which have 

 appeared since 1902 relating to the fauna under consideration are given 

 in the bibliography at the close of this paper. 



Collections were made on the islands of Porto Rico, Mona, Vieques and 

 Culebra. Notes on the relation between the distribution of the species 

 and the types of habitat will be found below under the discussion of 

 individual species. The addition of six species of Eleutlierodactylus to 

 the Porto Rican fauna, five of which are here described as new, is an 

 unexpected result of the expedition. All but one of these were captured 

 with the aid of an electric hand-lamp while they were singing at night. 

 This method of stalking is well known to those who have studied the 

 notes of amphibians. The voices of Eleutherodactylus, as of other frogs 

 and toads, are useful characters for distinguishing the species. 



The expedition secured over twelve hundred specimens, comprising 

 thirty-one species. To this collection are added more than a hundred 

 specimens obtained by previous expeditions of the survey (IT. E. Anthony, 

 T. H. Jones, F. E. Lutz, R. W. Miner, J. T. Nichols),' making the total 



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