The animals of Australia : mammals, reptiles and amphibians / by A.H.S. Lucas ; assisted by W.H. Dudley Le Souëf.
- Arthur Henry Shakespeare Lucas
- Date:
- 1909
Licence: In copyright
Credit: The animals of Australia : mammals, reptiles and amphibians / by A.H.S. Lucas ; assisted by W.H. Dudley Le Souëf. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![The lizards are of even lono'er stamlino' than the Snakes. The ^Monitors of Africa and South Asia are represented by several s[)ecies, some of vdiich have spread over the continent, hnt these are ])erha])s anionsf onr later acqnisitions. Pleistocene fossil forms have been met with. The soft-skinned Geckoes, the rono’li-scaled Agamida} and tlie smooth-scaled Skinks constitute onr dominant families. The Geckoes are a widely distril)nted tro])ical gronjp most nnmerons in the Indian and Australian regions. Certain of onr isolated Anstralian g-enera liave their closest allies in far distant Arabia, ^Madagascar and Cape Colony respectively. The Agamidae (Dragons) are a i)rominent Old World Family. Tlie Frilled Lizard is onr most specialised form. Skinks are cosmopolitan and evidently a very ancient famih^ They are, however, poorly represented in Sonth America, and we have no representative at all in Australia of the typical American families, the Iguanidae and Teiidae. Lastly the remarkable Ptjgopodidae, snake-like lizards with most rndimentary limbs are exclusively Australian. Clearly the origin of onr Lizards goes far back, though not dating from the old Antarctica times, and many rpiaint and interesting forms have been evolved during their Anstralian isolation. Amphihia existed in Australia in Permo-Carhoniferons ages. The giant forms of Labyrinthodonts died out, however, as elsewhere and our present Progs and Toads are of the same general structure as those existing in other parts of the world. The Cgstignaihidae and Tlylidae are the now dominant families. Cystignathid Frogs exist also in America. The Hglidae or Tree Progs have a Avide tropical and subtropical range. A few enrions genera of Toads, Bufonidae, Avith limited distribution seem to point in the present isolation and paucity of the species to a former greater extension of the family. A single Kaiia has crept in from Pa})na as a migrant in comparatively recent times. There are no tailed Amphibia in Australia.- The tailless frogs have in some cases become strikingly adapted to the more or less arid conditions, and have adopted special habits of jestivation and of oviposition. We append an approximate census of described Anstralian IMammals and Reptiles:— jMammalia—l\lf)notremes 2 jMarsnpials 106](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28108759_0021.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
