314 BULLETIN 34, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Kegio 

 Australis. 



Cystignatlii . .. 



H.ylodea 



("oratophiydes 



Psoudes 



Plcufodemai .. 

 Criiiifc 



Eegio Neotropica. 



Chili and S. 

 of La Plata. 



Central. 



Mexican. 



29 



5 



^ 24 



26 



6 







3 







3 



1 



2 







West 

 Indian. 



There are then kiiown twentyoiie Australian species, of wliicli all 

 but two possess an incomplete cranium and none a bony sipbisterual 

 style. In the Patagonian snbregion twenty-four species, of which ten 

 exhibit an incomplete cranium, and five a complete bony xiphisternal 

 style ; in the Brazilian snbregion 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 style; the West Indies with twelve, none having the fonta- 

 nelle, and three the style. 





E. 



AuMtralis. 



S. R. Pata- 

 chonica. 



S.R. 

 Brazil. 



S.R. 

 Mexic. 



S.R 

 lud. Ore. 



Total 



25 



13 



53 



4 



2X 







Prefrontals fully developed 





 1 

 .5 



8 

 7 



1 3 

 4 



1 1 

 2 

 3 



*22 



"o 



15 

 6 



2 



27 

 

 7 

 

 



10 



Ear imperfect. 





Ko vomerine teeth 







Toes webbed 





Fossorial shovel 



Q 







* Approximate. 



In regard to the cranial development, the West Indian region is pre- 

 eminent in this family, as in the Hylidte; tlie Brazilian 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 Brazilian and Argentine forms predominate. In possession 

 of the raniform xiphisternum the West Indian and Mexican subregions 

 show fewer representatives than the Brazilian. There are none in the 

 Australian. 



One species — Ltthodytes ricordii — wanders from the R. Neotropica 

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

 others, Lithodytes latrans and Syrrlioplms marnockii, have a distribu- 

 tion in Southwest Texas; no others are known to occur beyond the 

 borders already stated. No species is common to the E. E. Australis 

 and Neotropica, and but one genus — Borborocastes. Two Brazilian 

 species occur in the Southern West Indies and two in Southern Mex- 

 ico ; probably three of the same country must be included in the Buenos 

 Ayrean list. 



As yet we are acquainted with the fossil remains of but one species 

 of Cystignathidae— a Ceratophrys, from a Brazilian cave. It has been 



