BREVIORA Mmseiiam of Connparsitive Zoology Cambridge, Mass. April 12, 1962 Number 155 NOTES ON HISPANIOLAN HERPETOLOGY 6. THE GIANT ANGLES By Ernest E. Williams INTRODUCTION Mertens (1939) has called attention to the existence of geo-graphic variation in the giant anoles of Hispaniola and has distinguished a typical western race, Anolis ricordii ricordii Dumeril and Bibron, and an eastern race, A. r. haleafus Cope. The distinction between these two forms is sharp and un-equivocal ; the situation is, however, more complicated than Mertens' limited sample (16 specimens) led him to believe. Study of the unreported series of Hispaniolan giant anoles in the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) plus the specimens in the Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ) and the United States National Museum (USNM) (91 specimens in all) makes it clear that at least three vicariant forms are recog-nizable. The form occurring from Port-au-Prince north to Cap Haitien and Port-de-Paix is the one to which Mertens has shown that the name ricordii Dumeril and Bibron must be attached. Another, occurring in the north and east of the Dominican Republic, may be called, following Mertens, by Cope's name haleatus (Eupristis taleatus Cope 1864, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., p. 168, type locality "St. Domingo"). A third unnamed population occurs on the Barahona peninsula. A fourth popu-lation inhabiting the southwest peninsula of Haiti may be dis-tinct. I list below the distinguishing characters of the three well-marked forms.
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