• ( 



:S|!i 



314 BULLETIN :M, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



(Ivslimiallii . . . 

 Ilvloilcs . . . .. 

 • iiiiliiplii.vdi's 



r.tinilcs 



rit'iiioiliMii;!' .. 

 Criiiiir 



AtlHti'uli.s. 





 

 7 

 1 



(I 



lU>glo Kfotroplca. 



Cliili iiiiil S. 

 of I.ii I'hitu. 





 4 



:t 



5 



10 



WuHt 



Imlinii. 



There are then known twenty one Australian species, of whith all 

 but two possess an incomplete eranium and none a bony xiphisternal 

 style. In the ratagonian snbieyion twenty- four species, of wbieli ten 

 exhibit an incomplete cranium, and live a complete bony xiphisternal 

 style; in the l>razilian subre-iion sixty-seven species, of which only six 

 have an incomplete brain case, and twenty-four the osseous xiphister- 

 nal style; .Mexico, thirty-two species with complete cranium, and one of 

 these with stylo; the West Indies with twelve, none having' the fonta- 

 nelle, and three the style. 



* Approxiinatf. 



In regard to tlie cranial development, the West Indi. region is |)rc- 

 eminent in this family, as in the Il.vlid;c; the lirazilian inferior, and the 

 .Australian vastly below all; the degradation appearing in a certain 

 degree regular. In the lack of vomerine teeth (a feature of immatur- 

 ity) South Hrazilian and Argentine forms predominate. In possession 

 of the raniform xiphisternum the West Indian and Mexican subregions 

 show fewer rej)resentatives ihan the Brazilian. There are none in the 

 Australian. 



One si)ecie.s — hilhtnhitcs ricortUi — wanders from the 11, Neotroi»ica 

 into the southern projection — Florida— of North America, and two 

 others, lAthodytcH lufrans and Sijrrlinjilius maruocliii, have a distribu- 

 tion in Southwest Texas; no others are known to o(!cur beyond tlit* 

 borders already state«l. No species is connnon to the R. K. Australis 

 and Xeotropica, and but one genus — IJorboroca-tes. Two Hrazilian 

 spe(!ies occur in the Southern West Indies and two in Southern Mex- 

 ico ; probably three of the same country must be included in the iWu'iios 

 Ayrean list. 



As yet we are accjuainted with the fo.ssil remains of but one specnes 

 of Cystignathidic— a Ceratophrys, from a Ijrazilian cave. It has Iteen 



-k 



r ax 



T 



