Abstract
THIS volume completes the second edition of the Catalogue of the Batrachians in the British Museum. The former volume, which appeared in the spring of last year, we have already noticed. The first edition (1850) was prepared by Dr. J. E. Gray, and contained descriptions of 72 species; 132 species are described in the present work, the great majority of which have been actually examined by Mr. Boulenger. The number of species of tailed Batrachians in the British Museum collection now amounts to 78 against 38 in 1850. Several of the species which are wanting in the collection are natives of America, and in the interests of science we hope some of the distinguished herpetologists of the New World will generously supply these desiderata. The number of footless Batrachians in the Collection is 19 against 5 in 1850, and in this group also nearly all the species unrepresented in the national collection are natives of America. In addition to very full synopses of the families and subfamilies, of detailed diagnoses of the genera and species with synonyms, we have appended to this volume a summary of the principal facts of the geographical distribution of Batrachians generally, which adds immensely to the value of this catalogue to the general biologist Of the various primary geographical divisions which have been proposed, Mr. Boulenger finds that that recognised by Dr. Günther for freshwater fishes into Northern Equatorial and Southern Zones, agrees best with the facts deducible from the study of Batrachians, but with one modification, for a Southern Zone does not exist for Batrachians. Tasmania and Patagonia do not differ in any point regarding their frog-fauna from Australia and South America respectively. The following are the principal conclusions:—(1) In the Northern Zone there is an abundance of tailed and an absence of footless forms. A. In the Old World division (Europo-Asiatic or Palæ-arctic Region) there are numerous Salamandrinæ, with a single exception an absence of Hylidæ, but Discoglossidæ are present. B. In the North American division we find Sirenidæ, few Salamandrinæ, Plethodontinæ, Amblystomatinæ, and Hylidæ numerous, Desmognathinæ. (2) In the Equatorial Southern Zone there is an absence of tailed Batrachians and an equally characteristic presence of footless forms. Dividing (A) the Old World region into Indian and African, we find in both the frogs numerous (260 species out of 300), an absence of Hylidæ and Cystignathidæ, while in the former there are no Aglossæ or Dendrobatidæ, while in the latter there are Dactylethridæ or Dendrobatidæ. Dividing (B) the New World region into Tropical America and Australia, the former is rich in footless forms (21 species), has very many tailless forms, some small families quite peculiar to the region, but above all is it rich in the Arcifera, it has also a few tailed forms; the latter is divided into three subregions: the Australian proper is chiefly remarkable for a negative character, there are no footless or tailed forms, almost no toads or frogs, its fauna consisting mainly of the two families, Cystignathidæ and Hylidæ; the Austro-Malayan subregion presents an interesting blending of Indian and Australian forms, a curious fact is the occurrence, according to Peters, of a third species of the African genus Phrynomantis in Amboyna and Batavia, New Caledonia does not yield a single Batrachian; the third or New Zealand subregion possesses but a single species, Liopelma hcchstetteri, very curiously a member of the family Discoglossidæ, which is otherwise restricted to the Europe-Asiatic region. The following new species are described for the first time, and there are excellent illustrations of most of them in the plates accompanying this volume: Hynobius peropus, China and Japan, Spelerpes yucatanicus, Yucatan, Uræotyphlus africanus, West Africa, Hypogeophis guentheri, Zanzibar, Dermophis albiceps, Ecuador, and Chthonerpeton petersii, the Upper Amazon.
Catalogue of the Batrachia gradientia s. caudata, and B. apoda in the Collection of the British Museum.
Second Edition. By G. A. Boulenger. (London: By Order of the Trustees, 1882.)
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Catalogue of the Batrachia gradientia s. caudata, and B. apoda in the Collection of the British Museum . Nature 28, 170 (1883). https://doi.org/10.1038/028170a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/028170a0