Annals of the Transvaal Museum, 
31 
by Mr. Beddard in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society, with results 
which are somewhat unexpected : for, he says, there are important anato- 
mical differences between the Madagascar species of Corallus and 
Pelophilus and the American snakes which have been referred to the same, 
genera, the former being in some respects more in agreement with the 
old-world pythons, and he considers that it is not now desirable to sub- 
divide the Boidae into the usually accepted groups of Boinae and 
Pythoninae. This case is an illustration of the obvious fact that it is 
unsafe to gauge generic relationships by means of superficial characters. 
The only important facts to be added to the known data concerning 
the South African frogs relate to the genera Heleophryne and Cacosternum : 
the former, as I have shown (Annals Transvaal Museum, Yol. 2, p. 15), 
really belongs to the Cystignathidae, and the latter, which was first assigned 
to the Ranidae and more recently to the Engystomatidae, appears to me 
to be more correctly placed in the Dyscophidae (or sub-family Pyseophinae 
of Gadow), as the upper jaw is undoubtedly provided with teeth. 
The amphibian faunas of South Africa and Madagascar are com- 
posed as follows : — 
South Africa. 
Madagascar. 
Agldssa 
Xenopus 1 
— 
Bufonidae ... 
Bufo 8 
— 
Oysti gnatliidae 
Heleophryne 2 
— 
Banidae 
Rana 15, Chiromantis 1, 
Cassina 1, Hylambates 3, 
; Rappia 9, Megalixalus 2, 
j Arthroleptis 2, Phryno- 
| batrachus 1 
Rana 2, Rhacophorus 21, 
Rappia 0, Megalixalus 3, 
Mantidactylus 23, Arthro- 
leptis 1 . 
llanidae, sub-family TJen- 
drobatinae 
Two peculiar genera. 
Eng ystomatidae , sub-family 
Engystomatinae 
Hemisus 2, Breviceps 5, 
Phrynomantis 1 
Calophrynus and three peculiar 
genera. 
Engystomatidae , sub-family 
byscophinae 
Cacosternum 1 
Nine peculiar genera. 
Aghssa. 
Xenopus laevis . — The genus ranges through tropical and South Africa, 
but is absent from North Africa : the genus Pipa of the Guianas is closely 
related to Xenopus, and Hymenochirus of Equatorial Africa is stated to 
be in some respects intermediate between the two genera. As this 
sub-order is absent from Madagascar and the oriental region it would seem 
likely that the original home was in the neotropical region and that 
Xenopus is comparatively new to Africa. 
Phaneroglossa. 
Bufonidae . — There are about seven species of Bufo in the South 
African region, the commonest being B. regular is, which occurs throughout 
