106 geographical disibibittion 



1. The Ettropo- Asiatic ob Pal^ arctic Kesion. 



This region is limited in the south-west by the Sahara, all 

 the species hitherto recorded from Morocco, Algiers, and Tunis 

 being truly Palsearctic, and not less than four species of the order 

 Gaudafa (which is altogether absent in the African Eegion) occurring 

 in this part of North Africa. Northern Egypt presents an in- 

 teresting mixture of Palaearotic and African forms ; of the four 

 Ecaudata known from that country, two (Bufo viridis and Eyla 

 arhorea) are widely distributed in the Europe-Asiatic, the two 

 others (Rana mascareniensis and Bufo regularis) in the African 

 Eegion ; a species of Tailed Batrachian also occurs, but is known 

 from the larva only *. Little is known of Arabia, but the northern 

 parts appear to agree with Northern Egypt. Syria is decidedly 

 Palsearctic, as is also North-eastern Persia, where the widely dis- 

 tributed Rana esculenta, Bufo viridis, Eyla arborea, and Molge 

 cristata occur without the addition of any African or Indian form. 

 Afghanistan appears to be Indian. In Southern China we meet 

 with a gradual predominance of Indian types. Eoughly speaking, 

 the 30° lat. N. may be considered the line separating the Europo- 

 Asiatic Eegion from the African and Indian. 



The Europo-Asiatic Eegion is poorer than any other in the 

 number of species ; as regards genera it equals the North- American 

 and Australian Eegions. 



The BiscoglossidcB only, the least specialized of aU the families of 

 Ecaudata, can be regarded as peculiar to this region, although one 

 representative occurs outside its boundaries, viz. the genus Liopelma 

 of New Zealand, which thus affords a remarkable and perfectly 

 analogous instance of the distribution of the Salmonoid genera Os- 

 merus and Retropinna. The other families of Ecaudata are : — the 

 Ranidce, occurring in every other part of the World but Australia ; the 

 Bufonidoe, which are cosmopolitan ; the Hylidm, a widely distributed 

 group, rich in species, represented in this Eegion by a single species ; 

 and the Pelohatidce, a small group represented, besides, in the North- 

 American and Indian Eegions and in New Guinea. The Caudata 

 are chiefly Salamandridce, which family occurs wherever the Order 

 is represented ; one genus of the small families Amphiumidce and 

 ProteidcB are also represented by single species, the former reaching 

 its greatest development in the North-American Eegion. 



T\^o Subregions may be distinguished — the European and the 

 Asiatic, the Oural and the Aralo-Caspian steppes forming the line 

 of separation. Japan does not differ in any important character 

 from Eastern Asia, and about half of its species (6 out of 13) occur 

 also in China. 



The European Subregion is characterized by Pelohatidce and Disco- 

 glossidoe, and by the numerous Salamandrince and the genus Proteus ; 

 very curiously, a species of the otherwise entirely American genus 



* M. F. Lataste has received seTeral larvre of a Salamandroid collected near 

 Alexandria by M. Letourneux. It will probably turn out to be Salam. maculosa, 

 which has recently been diBCOvered in Syria, and which will accordingly be 

 Circummediterranean. 



