74 AMPHIBIA 



Faunistic divisions of the Amphibia. 

 NOTOCI.EA. SOUTH WORLD. 



Characterised by the Cystignathidae* and by the predomi- 

 nance of Arcifera, which form nearly 90 per cent of the Anurous 

 population. 



I. AUSTRALIAN REGION. Absence of Apoda and Urodela. 

 All the Anura are arciferous, with the exception of one species of 

 Rana in the Cape York peninsula. The fauna of the Australian 

 continent and of Tasmania consists chiefly of Cystignathidae and 

 Hylidae (Hyla and Hylella) and several small genera of Bufon- 

 idae (Pseudopliryne* Notaden* and Myobatrachus*}. 



It is customary, and from the study of other Vertebrata quite 

 justifiable, to divide the Australian region into several sub- 

 regions, but the Amphibia lend no support to this. The only 

 Amphibian in the Sandwich Islands is a Bufo, closely related to 

 North American species. The only Amphibian in New Zealand 

 is Liopelma* one of the Discoglossidae whicli are otherwise con- 

 fined to Europe, North-east Asia, and North-west America, and, 

 to judge from their low organisation, had formerly a much wider 

 distribution. New Caledonia possesses no Amphibia. The Fiji 

 Islands are inhabited by one or two species of Cornufer, a genus 

 of Eariidae. The same genus is typical of the Austro-Malayaii 

 and Papuasian islands, the fauna of which consists of Eana 

 and Cornufer, Ceratobatrachus, several genera of Engystomatinae, 

 Hylidae, and Pelobatidae. 



II. NEOTROPICAL REGION. Characterised by Apoda, Aglossa 

 (Pipci), abundance of Cystignathidae (Hemiphractinae,* Cystig- 

 nathinae, and Dendrophryniscinae*), Hylidae (Hylinae and 

 Amphignathodontinae*), numerous Bufonidae and Engystoma- 

 tinae ; Dendrobatinae* ; the Eaninae are represented by a few 

 peculiar genera, mostly restricted to the Andesian province ; 

 the genus Rana occurs there in a few species only. 



Absence of Discoglossidae, Pelobatidae and Dyscophinae. 



Several species of Urodela, of the genus Spelerpes, extend 

 from Central America into the Andesian province, one occurs 

 in Hayti, and Plethodon platense in Argentina. 



This region is by far the richest in the number of families, 



* indicates Amphibia which are peculiar to the respective regions or sub-regions. 



