48 FAMILIES OF BATRACHIA. [CH. I 



instance, more thoroughly aquatic than the Ranidse ; they 

 sprawl about awkwardly on land instead of sitting up in 

 the alert though broken-backed fashion of other frogs; 

 the eggs too are laid not in masses as are those of the 

 common frog, but singly as in the newt. This family is 

 restricted to tropical and southern Africa; the Pipidse 

 including only the genus Pipa, in which the female 

 harbours the young in holes in the skin, is Brazilian. 

 Two families, Amphignathodontidse and Hemiphractidse 

 are peculiar to the Neotropical region. The family of the 

 Cystignathidse are remarkable in being found in the 

 Neotropical and Australian regions ; the family contains a 

 large number of species of which several have the habits 

 of the tree frogs ; and one genus has been on this account 

 termed Hylodes. A very characteristic member of this 

 family is the "Barking toad" of South America, Ceratophrys 

 ornatus, of which specimens may be always seen at the 

 Zoological Society's gardens. Another instance of discon- 

 tinuous distribution is offered by the family Discoglossidse, 

 which occurs in all the sub-regions of the Palsearctic 

 region and has a single representative in New Zealand, 

 viz. Liopebna hochstetteri. Resemblances between South 

 America and Madagascar are shown here, as in some other 

 groups of the animal kingdom. The family Dendrobatidse 

 are represented by two genera Mcmtella and Stumpffia, 

 comprising five species, in Madagascar, and by the genus 

 Dendrobates in South America. On the whole the Neo- 

 tropical region is most abundantly inhabited by peculiar 

 forms. Out of the fourteen families allowed by Mr 

 Boulenger no less than ten are found in that realm and 



