254 BARBOUR: ZOOGEOGRAPHY. 



Girard. The latter species was described (Proc. Acad. nat. sci. Phila., 1853, p. 

 422) from specimens taken at Rio de Janeiro by the members of the U. S. explor- 

 ing expedition. Boulenger (Cat. Batr. Sal. Brit, mus., 1882, p. 247) makes L. 

 caliginosus embrace Hallowell's species, malanonotus, from Nicaragua, which is 

 certainly a valid form, as specimens in the Museum from Nicaragua show. 

 They differ markedly from the figure and description of Brochi's L. echinatus 

 (Miss. sci. Mex. Batr., 1882, p. 18, pi. 5, fig. 4), and also from a specimen from 

 Merida, Venezuela, obtained through Rosenberg of London. This frog was from 

 material collected by Sr. Bricefio y Gabaldon, which was studied by Boulenger; 

 so that it represents exactly Boulenger's L. caliginosus. Upon comparing this 

 specimen with a large series from St. Vincent and Grenada, I find that they are 

 the same in every respect. The only obstacle which now remains in the way of 

 reducing L. validus to a synonym is the fact that we have no topotypes of L. 

 caliginosus for comparison. I did not find this species when collecting about 

 Rio, but only L. poecilochilus Cope. A species of amphibian covering a range 

 which extended from Rio de Janeiro to St. Vincent in the West Indies and to the 

 Isthmus of Tehuantepec would be foreign to everything which we know of 

 amphibian distributions. For this reason I keep the species separate, believing 

 that a comparison with examples from Brazil will show this to be justified. L. 

 caliginosus Girard will thus be the name for Brazilian examples, L. validus 

 Garman for those from St. Vincent, Grenada, probably Trinidad, and certainly 

 part of Venezuela; and L. melanonotus (Hallowell) for those from Central 

 America, probably from Tehuantepec to Panama. I showed (Barbour, Bull. 

 M. C. Z., 1906, 46, p. 228) that some very large specimens from San Miguel and 

 Saboga Islands, in the Bay of Panama, were a distinct species, and gave them 

 the name L. insularum. 



From Dr. Allen's field notes I glean that there is no evidence that L. validus 

 has been introduced in Grenada, and the fact that it is a species characteristic 

 of the fauna of the small area of primeval forest still remaining in the interior of 

 the island would make it appear certainly to be indigenous. Dr. Allen says that 

 what he took to be this frog pipes like our common Hyla pickeringii. Specimens 

 seen near the shore of the Grand Etang when disturbed, dove into the water, 

 and hid among the dead leaves on the bottom. They occurred, however, in the 

 sodden woods as well. 



