The Wit of the Wild 



r 



literally true, but very misleading. There are 

 in all about one hundred and fifty species, and 

 of these, one hundred are Notogaean [i. e., 

 belong to the Southern Hemisphere], one-half 

 of the whole number, or seventy-five, being Neo- 

 tropical [South American] ; twenty-three are 

 Central American, seven Antillean, and about 

 eighteen are found in North America. One 

 species, Hyla arborea, extends over nearly 

 the whole Palaearctic region [Europe, Asia], 

 and two closely allied forms occur in Northern 

 India and Southern China. Consequently, with 

 the exception of three closely allied species, the 

 Hylidae are either American or Australian. We 

 conclude that their original home was Notogaea, 

 and that they have spread northwards through 

 Central and into North America. The enor- 

 mous moist and steamy forests of South Amer- 

 ica naturally suggest themselves as a paradise 

 for tree-frogs, and it is in this country, espe- 

 cially in the Andesian and the adjoining Cen- 

 tral American subregions, that the greatest 

 diversity of generic and specific forms have 

 been produced. It is all the more remarkable 

 that similar forest-regions, like those of Borneo 

 and other Malay Islands, are absolutely devoid 

 of Hylidse. . . . The various Hylidae re- 

 sort to all kinds of modes of rearing their 



*> 218 > 



