92 BULLETIN 58, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



List of specimens of Microhyla okinavensis — Continued. 



"Type; description, p. 90; figs. 71-75. 



6 Types of M. undulata. 



Family RANID.E. 



The frogs proper are characterized by teeth in the upper jaw com- 

 bined with a firmisternian shoulder-girdle. 



They constitute the largest family of the tailless batrachians, em- 

 bracing considerably over one-fourth of all the species, and are dis- 

 tributed over nearly all the temperate and tropical regions of the globe, 

 except Australia, New Zealand, eastern Polynesia, and Hawaii. 

 Most of the species are more or less aquatic in their habits, but many 

 are arboreal; some are terrestrial, and a few burrow in the ground. 

 Several of the larger species are used for food in various countries and 

 are considered great delicacies. Like all the other batracliians they 

 are highly useful in destroying injurious insects. 



Many of the frogs belonging to tliis family, especially those wdth 

 large digital disks, resemble the tree-toads to a liigh degree; so much 

 so in fact that until a comparative recent date they were referred to 

 the latter, from which they differ radically, however, in their osteo- 

 logical characters. Nevertheless, there is an "external" character — 

 i. e., one that can be ascertained wdthout dissection — which will enable 

 us to properly place them, viz, the lateral or median prolongation of 

 the posterior free edge of the tongue so as to form two lateral " horns" 

 with a deep median incision, or a single median "horn," as in the 

 genus Oxyglossus. All the species known to occur within our territory 

 are provided with two lateral posterior horns on the tongue. 



Two genera only are represented in Japan and adjacent territory. 



