. Natural history. Zoology. 442 AMPHIBIA—ORDER I.—ECAUDATA. a verj- large number of species distributed over the greater part of the world with the exception of Oceania, Australasia, and Madagascar. In this genus the'pupil of the eye forms a horizontal slit, the tip of the tongue is not notched, the toes of the fore-feet are free, but the hinder ones are partially webbed. Occasionally the ends of the toes are expanded into small discs ; the head may bear bouy ridges, and in maay cases the skin is covered with warts, which uiider excitement secrete a milky acrid fluid. Two species are met with
. Natural history. Zoology. 442 AMPHIBIA—ORDER I.—ECAUDATA. a verj- large number of species distributed over the greater part of the world with the exception of Oceania, Australasia, and Madagascar. In this genus the'pupil of the eye forms a horizontal slit, the tip of the tongue is not notched, the toes of the fore-feet are free, but the hinder ones are partially webbed. Occasionally the ends of the toes are expanded into small discs ; the head may bear bouy ridges, and in maay cases the skin is covered with warts, which uiider excitement secrete a milky acrid fluid. Two species are met with in Britain, namely the. Fiq. 6.—Natteejack Toad {Bu/o ) common toad (^B. vulgaris), and the natterjack {B. calamita); the latter being very local in our islands, and easily recognised by the whitish or yellow streak on the middle of the back. Although not found in Britain, a third European species is the handsome green toad {B. viridis), which also ranges into the north of Africa and Asia. The males differ from those of the common species in possessing a vocal sac beneath the throat. Although many of the tree-frogs belonging to this family are very similar externally to the Dendrohatida, they agree with the toads in the conforma- tion of the skeleton of the chest. From the Bufonidce they Family HyHdm. may be readily distinguished by the possession of upper teeth ; while a still more distinctive peculiarity is to be found in the claw-shaped terminal joints of the toes. The frogs of this family, which are mostly arboreal in their habits, and are ranged under a considerable number of generic divisions, attain their maximum development in America (especially its tropical regions) and Australasia, but also occur in Europe and Northern Asia, while a single representative of the typical genus Hyla is found in India. The genus just named includes more than a hundred and fifty species, and has a distribution coextensive with that of the family. Whereas the European U. arbo
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