BREVIORA MmseiMii of Comparative Zoology Cajjbridge, :\Iass. March 10, 19()4 Number 19S AMPHISBAENA SCHMIDTI, A THIRD SPECIES OF THE GENUS FROM PUERTO RICO^ (AMPHISBAENIA : REPTILIA). By Carl Gans Departineiit of Biology, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo 14, New York The island of Puerto Rieo is iiiiiciue auiouy-the islands of the Greater Antilles in possessing two almost eertainly sympatrie species of Amph'shaena. One of them, A. caeca, ranges over the entire island, while the second, A. hakeri, is restricted to the central portion of the northwestern corner of Puerto Rico (Fig. 1). .1. caeca has been shown to vary more widely in the western than in the eastern portion of its range (Grant, 1932; Gans and Alexander, 1962). A recent study of the systematics and variations of the sev-eral Antilles species (Gans and Alexander, 1962; here followed for terminology) disclosed three individuals from Puerto Rico that clearly diifered from both described forms in five character-istics, i.e. in more ways than the former differed from each other. The specimens were left incerfae sedis for three reasons : two specimens came from a rather old collection ; the third specimen had been collected on the diametrically opposite end of the island; and only these three out of more than 200 Puerto Rican siKM'hnens showed this character pattern. Dr. 11. lleatwole has now made available three additional speci-mens that stem from two coastal localities adjacent to that of the first two specimens. They make it desirable to call attention to the probable existence of yet a third species of Anrphishaena on the island, a situation that may have some interesting zooge-ographical implications. 1 Notes on amphisbaenids No. 11.
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