9i ON THE BATRACHIA AND REPTILIA OF COSTA RICA. 



feet above the sea. The coast region includes a wide belt of swamps, and then 

 gradually rises to a height of two hundred feet at fifteen miles inland. From this 

 point the surface rises rapidly, so that at twenty-five miles the elevation is 2500 

 feet above the sea. The vegetation of the entire region is exceedingly dense. 

 At an elevation of from 5000 to 7000 feet is the region of greatest precipitation ; 

 rain falls here, according to Mr. Gabb, on more than two hundred days of the 

 year, and heavy fogs are of daily occurrence. The surface is often covered with a 

 deep layer of moss, and swamps abound. There is no belt of pines, as in Mexico, 

 but the extreme summits of the peaks are covered with a sparse vegetation con- 

 sisting chiefly of an Artemisia much like that of the Hocky Mountain region of 

 the United States, with whortleberries, a bamboo-like grass, a stunted tree fern, 

 and scattered tufts of grass. 



The collections were made at Limon and Old Harbor, on the coast, and from 

 the latter locality inland to the foot of the Pico Blanco, and thence to its summit. 

 The principal inland stations were Sipurio, fifteen miles from the coast, elevated 

 200 feet, and Uren, twenty-five miles, elevated 2500 feet. Opportunity being 

 thus offered for determining their hypsometrical distribution, I give the following 

 lists of species which occur at different elevations. Thus certain species do not 

 occur further inland than ten miles from the coast ; these are : Dendrohates typo- 

 graphus ; D. tinctorius auratus ; D. talamancce. Bufo auritus is a coast species. 

 From Sipurio we have nearly all the snakes and lizards, and the following Batra- 

 chia : Hyla gahbii, H. uranochroa, and H. elceochroa ; Bufo hcsmatiticus. From 

 between this point and Old Harbor came Mocoa assata and Opheobatrachus ver- 

 micularis. From Uren, Cranopsis fastidiosus and Trypheropsis chrysoprasinus. 

 From higher points on the Pico Blanco, chiefly in the rainy zone, at from 5000 to 

 7000 feet, we have the following list : — 



BA TEA CHI A. 

 Opheobatrachus vermicularis, Gray. 

 (Edipus morio, Cope. 

 Crepidius epioticus, Cope. 

 Ollotis ccsrulescens, Cope. 

 Atelopus varius, Stann. 

 Eyla nigripes, Cope. 

 Hyla punctariola, Peters. 

 Phyllobates hylaeformis^ Cope. 

 Lithodytes podiciferus, Cope. 

 Lithodytes muricinus, Cope. 



Sixteen species of Batrachia, three of Ophidia, and none of the other orders. On 



Lithodytes habenatus, Cope. 

 Lithodytes melanostictus, Cope. 

 Lithodytes megacephalus, Cope. 

 Lithodytes gulosus, Cope. 

 Hylodes cerasinus, Cope. 

 Banula brevipalmata, Cope. 



OPHIDIA. 



Catostoma psephotum, Cope. 

 Gontia calligaster, Cope. 

 Bothriechis nigroviridis, Peters. 



