adth of the head and mouth together with the short inflated body
combine to produce a very toad-like appearance. It is not unlikely that
they represent the huge marine toad, _Bufo marinus_, common from
southern Mexico to Brazil and in the West Indies. There seems to be no
distinction in the treatment of frogs and toads in the codices.

TREE-TOAD (_Hyla eximia_). Of great interest are the figures in
Tro-Cortesianus 26a and b (Pl. 8, figs. 1, 3), showing a god with
expanded finger tips and characterized further by the presence of two
parallel black stripes from the hinder and lower margins of the eye
respectively. The knob-like finger tips at once suggest one of the
tree-toads, and the presence of the two lines seems to indicate _Hyla
eximia_ as the species represented. In this tree-toad there is a long
black lateral line running posteriorly from the tympanum and above it a
shorter line just as in the drawings. It appears to be a common species
in the valley of Mexico though but little seems to have been written of
its habits. At the beginning of the rainy season it repairs to pools of
water to breed and is then very noticeable from its loud voice. No doubt
its importance in the Maya economy was from its conspicuousness at the
beginning of the rainy period. This fact is brought out more strongly
when we consider that these gods representing the tree-toad are
associated with agriculture and the sowing of grain at the beginning of
the rainy season. Foerstemann (1902, p. 35) identifies these figures as
god F. They are quite unlike the usual representation of this god and
are clearly god P as Schellhas (1904, p. 39) indicates. It is
interesting to note that the two black lines behind the eye are also
seen in the other gods shown in Tro-Cortesianus 26a and b although the
knob-like finger tips are lacking. The glyph for this tree-toad god is
recognized in the fifth place at the top of the same page (Pl. 8, fig.
2) by the same two black lines under and behind the eye.

REPTILIA

SERPENT. It would be impossible in the present paper to enter into any
lengthy discussion of the use of the serpent (Maya _kan_) in Mexico and
Central America. It seems to be one of the main elements in the religion
and consequently in the art of the Mayas and Mexican peoples. It is
represented again and again in many forms and varied combinations. It
underlies the whole general trend of Maya art. The serpent is often
associated with feathers. The cu