SUB-FAM. 2. RANINAE.–The vertebrae are procoelous and devoid of ribs. The precoracoids are always present and ossified from the clavicles, and are parallel with the much stronger and ossified coracoids. The omosternum usually possesses a bony style, but in the Indian genera _Nannobatrachus_ and _Nannophrys_ and in _Phyllodromus_ of Ecuador it remains cartilaginous, and in _Colosthetus_ of Colombia it is absent. The metasternum also possesses a bony style, but it remains cartilaginous in the Indian genera _Oxyglossus_, _Nannophrys_, _Nannobatrachus_ and _Phyllodromus_, in the last two genera rather reduced and slender, while in the Ecuadorian and Colombian genera _Hylixalus_, _Prostherapis_ and _Colosthetus_, it is reduced to a membranous piece. In quite a number of genera the normal number of phalanges is increased by one owing to the intercalation of an extra phalanx between the terminal and the otherwise penultimate phalanx.[104] This is the case in all the species of _Cassina_, _Hylambates_, _Rappia_, _Megalixalus_, _Rhacophorus_, _Chiromantis_, _Ixalus_ and _Nyctixalus_, but it is doubtful if all these genera are thereby more nearly related to each other than to the rest of the Raninae. The structure of the tips of the fingers and toes exhibits more variety. The terminal phalanges are mostly simple, with slight swellings at the ends, or they are Y- or T-shaped in conformity with more or less developed adhesive discs; in the African genus _Hylambates_ only they are claw-shaped, as in the Hylidae. _Gampsosteonyx batesi_, recently described by Boulenger from the Gaboon, shows a unique modification of the terminal phalanges of the second to the fifth toes. They are transformed into sharp and curved claws, like those of a cat, but instead {239}of horny sheaths, it is the bone itself which is thus sharpened and perforates the skin, an anomaly reminding us of the ribs of _Triton waltli_. Total length of the type-specimens, about 3 inches. Adhesive discs are common, and are best developed in _Rhacophorus_, _Ixalus_, _Rappia_, and _Megalixalus_. In the Neotropical genera, excepting _Colosthetus_, the discs are very peculiar, being provided on the upper side with leathery scales which are separated by a fissure. The fourth and fifth metatarsals either diverge and are connected by a distinct web, or they lie close together with only a groove between them, or lastly they appear externally united. [Illustration: FIG. 46.–Map showing distribution of the Ranidae.]