The Geographical Distribution of Animals, Volume 1 / With a study of the relations of living and extinct faunas as elucidating the past changes of the Earth's surface

by Alfred Russel Wallace

7. Rhinophrynidæ		Toads.	16. Pelodryadæ		Tree Frogs.
8. Phryniscidæ			17. Hylidæ
9. Hylaplesidæ			18. Polypedatidæ
10. Bufonidæ			19. Ranidæ		Frogs.
11. Xenorhinidæ			20. Discoglossidæ
12. Engystomidæ			21. Pipidæ		Tongueless Toads.
13. Bombinatoridæ		Frogs.	22. Dactylethridæ
14. Plectromantidæ
15. Alytidæ

FISHES.

These are arranged according to the classification of Dr. Günther, whose great work "The British Museum Catalogue of Fishes," has furnished almost all the material for our account of the distribution of the class.

In that work all existing fishes are arranged in six sub-classes and thirteen orders. A study of the extraordinary Ceratodus from Australia has induced Dr. Günther to unite three of his sub-classes; but as his catalogue will long remain a handbook for every student of fishes, it seems better to follow the arrangement there given, indicating his later views by bracketing together the groups he now thinks should be united.

		Sub-class.		Order.	Families.	Remarks.
		Teleostei		1. Acanthopterygii	47	Gasterosteidæ to Notacanthi.
Ganoidei				2. Do. Pharyncognathi	5	Pomacentridæ to Chromidæ.
				3. Acanthini	6	Gadopsidæ to Pleuronectidæ.
				4. Physostomi	29	Siluridæ to Pegasidæ.
				5. Lophobranchii	2	Solenostomidæ and Syngnathidæ.
				6. Plectognathi	2	Sclerodermi and Gymnodontes.
		Dipnoi		7. Sirenoidei	1	Sirenoidei.
		Ganoidei		8. Holostei	3	Amiidæ to Lepidosteidæ.
				9. Chondrostei	2	Accipenseridæ and Polydontidæ.
		Chondropterygii		10. Holocephala	1	Chimæridæ.
				11. Plagiostomata	15	Carchariidæ to Myliobatidæ.
		Cyclostomata		12. Marsipobranchii	2	Petromyzontidæ and Myxinidæ.
		Leptocardii		13. Cirrhostomi	1	Cirrhostomi.
Total					116	families.

INSECTS.

The families and genera of insects are so immensely numerous, probably exceeding fifty-fold those of all other land animals, that for this cause alone it would be impossible to enter fully into their distribution. It is also quite unnecessary, because many of the groups are so liable to be transported by accidental causes, that they afford no useful information for our subject; while others are so obscure and uninteresting that they have been very partially collected and studied, and are for this reason equally ineligible. I have therefore selected a few of the largest and most conspicuous families, which have been so assiduously collected in every part of the globe, and so carefully studied at home, as to afford valuable materials for comparison with the vertebrate groups, when we have made due allowance for the dependence of many insects on peculiar forms of vegetation, and the facility with which many of them are transported either in the egg, larva, or perfect state, by winds, currents, and other less known means.

I confine myself then, almost exclusively, to the sixteen families of Diurnal Lepidoptera or butterflies, and to six of the most extensive, conspicuous, and popular families of Coleoptera. The number of species of Butterflies is about the same as that of Birds, while the six families of Coleoptera selected, comprise more than twenty thousand species, far exceeding the number of all other vertebrates. These families have all been recently catalogued, so that we have very complete information as to their arrangement and distribution.

LEPIDOPTERA DIURNA, OR BUTTERFLIES.

Fam.	Fam.
1. Danaidæ.	9. Libythæidæ.
2. Satyridæ.	10. Nemeobiidæ.
3. Elymniidæ.	11. Eurygonidæ.
4. Morphidæ.	12. Erycinidæ.
5. Brassolidæ.	13. Lycænidæ.
6. Acræidæ.	14. Pieridæ.
7. Heliconidæ.	15. Papilionidæ.
8. Nymphalidæ.	16. Hesperidæ.