No. 129. SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. THE HERPETOLOGY OF PORTO RICO BY LEONHARD STEJNEGER, >/-. Division of Reptiles and Batrachians. From the Jteport of the United States National Museum for 1903, pages 549-734, with one plate. &&2S& m&gg|$* m Vore PER\^^? «f WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. I904. Report of U. S. National Museum, 1902.— Stejneger Plate 1, Anolis krugi. Drawn by miss sigrid bentzon from a sketch from life by the author. THE HERPETOLOGY OF PORTO RICO. BY LEONHAED STEJNEGER, Curator, Division of Reptiles and Batrachians. 549 TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page Introduction 553 Historical review f>56 Distribution of species occurring in Porto Rico (table) 560 Relations and origin of the Porto Rican herpetological fauna 561 Vertical distribution ' 565 Bibliography 567 Batrachians and reptiles of Porto Rico 569 Class Batrachia 569 Class Reptilia 599 Order Squamata 599 Suborder Sauria 599 Suborder Serpen tes 683 Order Chelonia 707 _ Index . 721 551 THE HERPETOLOGY OF PORTO RICO. By Leonhard Stejneger, Curator, Division of Reptiles and Batrachians. INTRODUCTION. The present account of the herpetology of Porto Rico is based primarily upon the collections recently accumulated in the United States National Museum, consisting- of about 900 specimens. Of this large amount of material nearly 350 specimens were collected by Mr. A. B. Baker, of the National Zoological Park, who accompanied the U. S. Fish Commission expedition to Porto Rico during- the early part of 1899, and the other naturalists then attached to the Fish Hawk. a About 540 specimens were secured in 1900 by Dr. C. W. Richmond and the present writer, who visited Porto Rico and Vieques from February 12 to April 19. This number includes various specimens collected then or shortly afterwards at our request by other persons, among whom may be mentioned Dr. A. Stahl, of Bayamon, Porto Rico; Mr. L. M. McCormick, of New York; Mr. B. S. Bowdish, of New York, and Mr. Charles E. Adams. It may be added that the National Museum during 1901 employed Mr. B. S. Bowdish for several months in collecting in Porto Rico and Mona Island. The most important result was the discovery of a new species of Anolis in Mona. The trip which I undertook in conjunction with Dr. C. W. Rich- mond, Assistant Curator of -Birds, was primarily for the purpose of collecting specimens characteristic of the West Indian fauna for exhi- bition at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo. It was originally our intention to proceed from Porto Rico to the smaller islands on the east and south, but an attack of fever to which we both fell victims prevented us from carrying out our plans. The fever and the long- convalescence also seriously interfered with our work in Porto Rico, so that we lost nearly three weeks collecting. ~ — — - r • «For an account of this expedition see Dr. B. W. Evermann's General Report on the Investigations in Porto Rico of the U. S. Fish Commission steamer Fish Hawk in 1899, in U. S. Fish Commission Bulletin for 1900, pp. 3-25. 553 554 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1902. Our principal and most important collecting was made in the high and wet region of the El Yunque Mountain, near the eastern end of the island. There, at an altitude of 2,978 a feet, only about 500 feet below the top, we camped for five days during an almost continuous rain and fog, while an equal length of time was spent on Mr. Agostini's hospitable coffee plantation on the eastern slope of the same mountain, at an elevation of 886 feet. One of the first reptiles I collected there was a fine specimen of the large Anolis cuvieri, which seems to be quite rare. In the excessively moist climate near the top, in a trop- ical forest of palms and tree ferns covered with dripping moss and air plants, while a dense matting of wet begonias concealed the ground reeking with dampness, we collected a large number of tree toads, some of which turned out to be new species. Here also we saw the new species of Anolis, the gorgeously emerald green A. evermanni, in its greatest glory. Another new species of Anolis we discovered toward the end of our stay in the dry, southern part of the island, in fact, only 3 miles from Ponce, the most important commercial city of the island. The surface of the hills, which rise ont of the coastal plain east of the city, is covered with a white, calcareous, marl-like formation, and here we found this species, Anolis poncensis, which belongs to the same group of the genus as A. pulchellus and A. hrugi. Some time was spent in Utuado in a diligent search for Peters's Anolis gundlachi, the types of which, now in the museum at Berlin, are said to have been collected at Utuado. We secured only a single young specimen near that town, which is the lowest altitude in which the species seems to occur. In the higher regions of El Yunque and at Adjuntas we found it abundant. That I only obtained one specimen of Celestus pleii, and that we, as well as Mr. Baker and others of the Fish Hawk party, entirely failed to secure a single specimen of Mabuya sloanii is less extraordinary, for doubtless the scarcity of these purely terrestrial species is due to the mongoose, which now infests the whole island and in places is exceedingly common. This ferocious little animal is also responsible for the present com- parative infrequency of snakes in the island. Formerly snakes were common enough, for as late as 1835 Dr. Moritz found them so numer- ous that in places one could hardly make a step without seeing sev- «My own aneroid measurements gave for our camp an altitude of 2,863 feet and for the top of El Yunque 3,351 feet. On the latest map of Porto Rico issued by the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (No. 920, December, 1901) the height of El Yunque as obtained by triangulation is given as 1,062 meters, or 3,485 feet, consequently 134 higher than found by me. Accepting the latter altitude as correct, and distribut- ing the error proportionally, the altitude of our camp may be assumed to have been 2,978 feet above sea level. HERPETOLOGY OF PORTO RICO. 555 eral. At present one may traverse the island from one end to the other without getting a glimpse of a single one. The apparent rarity of the toad {Bufo lem ur) is probably due less to the mongoose than to its very retired habits and the scarcity of suitable localities. The name Sapo is known to the inhabitants, but in most places is misapplied to the L&ptodactylus and the tree toad. Some even knew the name Sapo concho, by which the Porto Rican toad is known specifically because of the shell-like hardness of the bony head covering, but no one seemed able to give us any informa- tion which would lead to its discovery. Even a large reward which I offered proved ineffective. Dr. Stahl, who, during a residence of more than forty years, had collected assiduously, and to whom the country people used to bring all the natural curiosities they could find, assured us that he himself had never seen the toad in its native haunts, and that altogether only six specimens had been brought him, so that our prospects of finding it were very slight. Mr. Baker and the Fish Commission party had also failed to obtain a single specimen. We were constantly watching for it, and nearly despaired of getting one but finally decided to spend some time in Arecibo as the most likely place for them to occur. Even here we were on the point of giving- up our search for the now almost mythical animal, when on the last night of our stay there, after our baggage was packed for our depart- ure the next morning, I became the happy possessor of five fine speci- mens, thanks to the zealous and intelligent assistance of Enrique L. Braseoechea, a young- Porto Rican of Aguadilla, a United States tele- graph operator, and at the time temporarily in charge of the telegraph office in Arecibo. During this trip I paid special attention to the colors of the living reptiles and batrachians which I collected, and full descriptions were prepared with Ridgway's Nomenclator of Colors in hand for reference. These descriptions will be found in the present account under their proper headings. The figures illustrating this paper are mostl}T the work of Mr. R. G. Paine. A few havQ been drawn by Miss Sigrid Bentzon. The author wishes to express his obligations to various persons who have assisted in accumulating the material at band, either directly by collecting part of it or indirectly by assisting him while in Porto Rico. Thanks are particularly due to the authorities of the U. S. Fish Commission for the use of the magnificent collections made by the Fish Hawk expedition, and to Mr. A. B. Baker for the zeal and care displayed in getting together the finest collection of reptiles made up to that time in Porto Rico. I am also under obligations to Mr. Louis McCormick, Mr. B. S. Bowdish, Mr. Charles E. Adams, and Dr. A. •Stahl, for specimens collected by them in various parts of the island and presented to the National Museum. 556 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1902. To Prof. Samuel Garman, of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, Massachusetts, I am greatly indebted for the loau of various specimens of Porto Rican reptiles.