REPTILIA. 257 



to keep them separate until specimens from Haiti can be compared with others 

 from Cuba. The description seems to indicate a valid species. The type 

 locality is Acquin, Haiti. 



Phyllodactylus spatulatus Cope. 

 Cope, Proc. Acad. nat. sci. Phila., 1862, p. 176. Botjlenger, Cat. lizards Brit, mus., 1885, 1, p. 81. 



This is apparently an excessively rare species, the types of which were 

 caught at Barbados by Theodore Gill, who spent some time collecting upon that 

 island. This case is more or less similar to that of Tarentala cubana, a species 

 which is probably common enough, and yet which, on account of its crepuscular 

 or nocturnal habits, very seldom finds its way into the hands of the general 

 collector, and still remains very rare in museum collections. 



Recently a specimen has come to hand which was collected in Curacao. 

 It has been compared with the types of this species by both Dr. Stejneger and 

 myself, and there can be no doubt as to its identity. 



Thecadactylus rapicaudus (Houtttjyn) . 



Houttuyn, Verh. Zeeuwsch. genoot. wet. Vlissingen, 1782, 9, p. 323, pi. 3, fig. 1. Boulenger, Cat. 

 lizards Brit, mus., 1885, 1, p. 111. 



This is another species of gekko which occurs in both Central and South 

 America, and upon many of the West Indies, — in some cases possibly distributed 

 fortuitously. There are specimens in the Museum from Saba, St. Bartholomew, 

 St. Lucia, Dominica, Anguilla, Guadeloupe, and Grenada. Other records are 

 St. Thomas, St. Croix, Nevis, and Antigua. 



The only other species in the genus is T. australis Giinther, which occurs on 

 the islands in Torres Straits. Such a distribution as this can only be explained 

 by assuming that the genus is one of extraordinary antiquity, — an assumption 

 that we can not prove, — or that the species are in reality unrelated, and that the 

 similar characters are the result of the operation of some law of convergence. 

 The species may really represent separate genera, which are possibly very dis- 

 tantly related to each other. 



Three examples were secured by Dr. Allen in Grenada. The species is rare 

 locally, although common on many other of the Antilles. "Wood slave," is 

 native name according to Dr. Allen. In Jamaica this name is sometimes used 

 for the Mabuya, and very often for Sphaerodactylus gilvitorques. For the latter 

 genus in general, the name is "water-lizard," or "pawley lizard." Curiously 

 enough it is never used for Aristelliger, which should suggest Thecadactylus so 



