Vol. 86, No. 19, pp. 231-242 28 September 1973 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON STATUS OF THE OBER TOBAGO COLLECTION, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, AND THE PROPER ALLOCATION OF AMIVA SURANAMENSIS TOBAGANUS COPE (SAURIA: TEIIDAE)i By Robert G. Tuck, Jr., and Jerry David Hardy, Jr. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560, and Natural Resources Institute, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, Solomons, Md. 20688 Cope (1879:276) reported upon 36 amphibians and reptiles, supposedly from Tobago, West Indies, sent to the Smithsonian Institution by Frederick A. Ober, an amateur ornithologist collecting throughout the Lesser Antilles for the InstitLition. Cope identified the single frog represented in Ober's col-lection as HyZodes {=Eleutherodactylus) martinicensis, USNM 10121. Although Barbour (1916) and Mertens (1969) doubted the correctness of Cope's assignment, we have carefully ex-amined the specimen in question, and we concur with Cope's identification. However, E. martinicensis is known only from Martinique, Dominica, Guadeloupe, and Antigua (Schwartz, 1967:32). Our own investigations on Tobago, 1970-1972, have failed to produce a specimen of this species. Ober (1880:123) mentioned the nocturnal din of frogs on Dominica and de-scribed encountering the small creature producing the noise. For no other island did he remark on the frogs, and it is logical to assume the example in question originated there. Thirty-one of Ober's specimens are anoles, referred by Cope to Anolis alligator {— Anolis roquet roquet), USNM 10102-12, 10114-15, 10117-20, and 10123-36. Cope's assignment 1 Contribution No. 535 from the Natural Resources Institute, University of Mary-land. 19— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. 86, 1973 (231) ( OCT
BioStor
