BUFONIDAE 



I6 7 



matidae,is indicated by the Mexican Rhinoplirys and the Australian 

 Myobatraclms. However, since there are no true Engystomatidae 

 in Australia, although several genera occur in Papuasia, th^se 

 cases may be instances of convergence without necessarily im- 

 plying relationship. An unmistakable line of connexion leads, 

 according to Boulenger, to the Pelobatidae, the link being the 

 Himalayan Cophophryne, with very strongly dilated sacral 

 diapophyses, with a single condylar articulation of the coccyx 

 with the sacral vertebra (as in some Indo- Malayan Pelo- 



FORMS BESIDES BUFO. 



FiG. 34. Map showing distribution of Bufonidae. The vertical lines indicate the 

 occurrence of Bufonidae, but not of Bufo. 



batidae), while this articulation is bicondylar in all the other 

 Bufonidae. 



The whole family is divided into nine genera with more than 

 a hundred species, of which only about fifteen do not belong to the 

 genus Bufo. The distribution of the family is well-nigh cosmo- 

 politan, with the remarkable exception of Madagaspar, Papuasia, 

 and the small islands of the Pacific ; Bufo has been wrongly said 

 to inhabit the Sandwich Islands. The greatest number of 

 species, chiefly Bufo, occur in the Neotropical region, the greatest 

 number of genera in Central America, where Bufo is rare, and in 

 Australia, where it is absent. 



A. Pupils contracted to a horizontal slit. Typically arciferous. 



a. Australian. Tympanum invisible. Fingers and toes not dilated. 



1. With vomerine teeth. Both the onio- and meta-sternum are 



rudimentary. East Australia : . . Notaden bennetti. 



2. Without vomerine teeth. Omosternum absent. Metasternum 



cartilaginous: ..... Pseudophryne, p. 168. 



