258 BARBOUR: ZOOGEOGRAPHY. 



strongly to the native observer. The remarkable distribution of these wide- 

 spread native names, and their curious application to different local species, 

 would provide a most absorbing problem for some student of folk-lore and 

 linguistics. The same sort of a series of stock-names for littoral fishes appears 

 spread from Bermuda and Florida to the Lesser Antilles, and might well be in- 

 cluded in the same study. 



Aristelliger praesignis (Hallowell). 



Hallowell, Proc. Acad. nat. sci. Phila., 1856, p. 222. Boulenger, Cat. lizards Brit, mus., 1885, 1, 

 p. 146. Barbour, Bull. M. C. Z., 1910, 52, p. 289. 



The Museum's specimens are from Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cayman 

 Brae. This species needs comparison with A. irregularis Cope (Proc. Amer. 

 philos. soc, 1885, 22, p. 387) from Cozumel Island, Yucatan, which we have 

 not seen. The question as to whether the various mainland records for Belise 

 and Nicaragua really refer to A . praesignis is one of prime importance. Do they 

 represent the mainland inhabiting ancestors from winch the Antillean individuals 

 have been derived, or are they waifs which have been carried to the mainland 

 from Jamaica by the considerable schooner traffic? If the former possibility is 

 true, then we might expect A. irregularis Cope to stand valid. It is probably 

 better to assume that it does (Cat. lizards Brit, mus., 1887, 3, p. 485). If not, 

 Boulenger's contention that it is identical is doubtless correct. 



Aristelliger lar Cope. 

 Cope, Proc. Acad. nat. sci. Phila., 1861, p. 497. Boulenger, Cat. lizards Brit, mus., 1885, 1, p. 147. 



The type of this species (M. C. Z., No. 3,607) is a very large individual, over 

 a foot in total length. It was captured by Weinland near Jeremie, Haiti, and is 

 the only one that the Museum has ever received. 



Aristelliger nelsoni, sp. nov. 



Type: — No. 7,891, M. C. Z., an adult from Swan Islands, Caribbean Sea, 

 March, 1912, George Nelson, collector. Seven paratypes. 



This species may be distinguished from its close relative A . praesignis by its 

 larger average size, several specimens are 235 mm. in length and by its shorter 

 snout which is but slightly longer than the distance from eye to ear. Besides 

 these characters which are not very striking, there is a marked difference in the 

 dorsal scales. In the Jamaican examples these are rough, shagreen-like granules, 

 while in those from Swan Island the skin is much more finely granular and much 



