president's address SECTION D. 101 



There is thus a striking community in the fresh-water fish 

 faunas of Tasmania and South Victoria and at the same time 

 a remarkable affinity between (1) the south-eastern part of 

 Austraha including Tasmania, (2) INew Zealand and (3) 

 temperate South America. 



Amphibia, 



In New South "Wales Fletcher has recently revised and 

 increased the list of Amphibia and Lucas has increased the 

 scanty record of Victoria from 9 to 16 species, but notwith- 

 standing this it is as yet impossible to compare the amphibian 

 faunas of the different colonies satisfactorily. Tasmania is 

 credited with 9 species. Two families are certainly repre- 

 sented, the Cystignathidae and Hylidse, whilst possibly a 

 Pseudophryne is present. If this be so then Tasmania may 

 be credited with a third family, the Bufonidse. In the 

 Cystignathidae two genera are represented — Lymnodynastes, 

 with two species CL. peronii and tasmaniensis ) , common to 

 Victoria and the eastern coastal district of Australia and 

 Crinia, with two sjjecies fC. tasmaniensis and IcsvisJ, of 

 which one is doubtfully represented in Victoria. A third 

 genus common in Victoria and New South Wales is 

 unrecorded from Tasmania, viz., Heleioporus. 



The Hylidae have one genus present, Hyla, with three 

 species ( H. peronii, aurea, ewingiij, whose presence is well 

 established and which are common to South Austraha, 

 Victoria and the east coast of Australia, and two more 

 doubtful ones (^ H. krefftit and verreauxii). 



There are no special features in the Amphibian fauna of 

 Tasmania apart from its close relationship to that of Victoria 

 and its community of such families, genera and species as it 

 does possess with those of the south-east and east coastal 

 districts of the continent. 



So far as any connection with South American forms is 

 concerned Pseudophryne, allied to South American genera, is 

 only doubtfully recorded and the Bomhinatoridce, which by 

 the presence of Leiopehna in New Zealand indicate an alliance 

 between the latter and South America, are entirely absent. 

 The Hyhdae, which form especially a neotropical family, are 

 represented by perhaps 4 species of the genus Hyla which 

 is not only distributed through every region save the African 

 but has also many more representatives in the north-east 

 part of Australia than in Tasmania. The Discoglossidae, a 

 family with allied genera in Australia and ChiU, are absent 



