In addition to the common North American rattle-snake there are some four or five other species distributed throughout the Southern States, Mexico, and Panama. None appear to exceed a length of 6 feet. In South America their place is to a large extent taken

Ey permission of the Hew York Zoological Society.

FER-DE-LANCE SNAKE.

One of the fiercest and most venomous of American viperine snakes.

Ey permission of the Hew York Zoological Society.

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by the so-called BUSH-MASTER, a snake which attains to a length of as much as from 9 to 12 feet, and, in addition to being exceedingly venomous, is of an especially fierce and aggressive disposition. It is devoid of a rattle-like appendage, the tail terminating in a sharp horny spine. The FER-DE-LANCE, or KAT-TAILED PIT-VIPER, is another Central and South American species, held in wholesome dread on account of its death-dealing potentialities. The South American sugar-plantations are an especially favourite resort of this deadly snake, its attraction being the rats which frequent the canes and afford its chief food. Lying concealed among the thick foliage, it will launch itself aggressively at any passer-by, and its bite is usually attended with fatal results within a few hours. The fer-de-lance grows to a length of 6 or 7 or occasionally even 8 feet, with a thickness of a man's arm. Its colours, as with most members of its tribe, are somewhat variable. is usually olive The ground-colour of the back or reddish brown, with dark cross-bands; a black stripe runs backwards from the eye to

Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.] [Parson's Green. the neck, and in some instances the sides of BULL-FROG. the body are bright red. The croaking of this species may be heard at a distance of several miles. The American Continent is not wanting in aquatic representatives of the Viperine series. The most notable of these is the fish-eating WATER-VIPER, whose distribution extends from North Carolina in the south over the whole of North America as far westward as the Rocky Mountains. Fish and frogs constitute the main diet of this reptile.

AMPHIBIANS.

CHAPTER VI.

FROGS AND TOADS.

r~T\HE Amphibian Class, through the Newts

I and Salamanders more especially, would appear at first sight to have much in common with and to be most closely allied to the Lizards, previously described. As a matter of fact, however, the group is much more nearly related to the Fishes. Quite the most characteristic feature in the Amphibians that is indicative of the above-mentioned affinity is the circumstance that for a more or less longer period of their existence their respiratory organs take the form of external gills, structures not Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S.] [Regent's Pa.rk. found in any of the preceding vertebrate AMERICAN BULL-FROG. classes. Another diagnostic character of the Young ducks are a favourite food of this voracious Batrachian.

Frogs and Toads 599

Amphibia is. afforded by the circumstance that they all pass through a transitional or larval condition before arriving at the adult state. The familiar tadpole phase of the common frog or toad typically illustrates this point. During its earliest larval state the fish-like resemblance is especially conspicuous. In addition to possessing gills, the body is limbless, and produced into a long fish-like tail, having superior and inferior fin-like membranes, with which the little animal propels itself through the water. These locomotive fins, however, are never furnished with supporting fin-rays, as obtains among the Fishes. In EDIBLE FROG. contradistinction to the Lizards and Snakes, The hind legs only of this species are used for the composition of the the skin of Amphibians is never covered with famous Parisian dish. spines or scales, but is soft and naked. In many of the Toads and Salamanders the surface of the skin is, however, warted and highly glandular, and capable of emitting an acrid and sometimes poisonous fluid. More or less pronounced conditions of moisture are essential for the well-being of all Amphibians. The eggs are deposited, and the earlier or larval conditions, with but few exceptions, passed, in the water, while the adults remain in its near proximity, and frequently take up their abode in it. Amphibia do not, however, drink water after the manner of lizards and other reptiles, but absorb all the moisture they require through the surface of their skins. The deeper and more essential skeletal elements of the Amphibia differ conspicuously from those of the preceding groups. The vertebrae in the permanently gill-bearing species more particularly are scarcely to be distinguished from those of fishes. In the Frog and Toad Tribe, on the other hand, they are reduced to a less number, seven or eight only, than is found among any other vertebrates, while ribs do not exist or are rudimentary and functionless throughout the class. Many bones of the skull in the Amphibia, as well as its general construction, are more in accord with those of fishes than of ordinary reptiles. The tongue, not always present, is attached immediately inside the front of the lower jaw, its tip pointing down the animal's throat. It is remarkable that, notwithstanding their aquatic proclivities, no Amphibian has been discovered which frequents salt water.

Amphibians amongst themselves constitute two very easily recognised sub-divisions, the one including the Frogs and Toads, collectively forming the Tailless group; and the other represented by the Newts and Salamanders, or Tailed Amphibians. The former group has an almost world-wide distribution, numbering some thousand species; it is most abundantly represented in the tropics, ranging thence in diminishing numbers to the limits of the Arctic Circle. In colder climates these Amphibia usually hibernate during the winter months; while in tropical countries, where dry seasons intervene, they often bury themselves in the mud, and remain in a state of torpor till the return of the Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S.] [Regent's Park. rains. The majority are more or less es- TIGER-LIKE FROG. allied to the common British frog, but more boldly sentially nocturnal in their habits. Frogs A species closely and toads commence life in an aquatic marked.

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tadpole phase. While in the adult state they are strictly carnivorous, the tadpoles are vegetarian feeders. The section to which the COMMON BRITISH FROG belongs includes nearly 150 species, collectively known as Water-frogs, which present considerable differences in both their aspect and habits. While some are perennially aquatic, others only resort to the water during the breeding-season; some are terrestrial and occasionally earth-burrowers, while yet another series is essentially arboreal. In addition to the familiar British species the much-esteemed EDIBLE FROG of the race of this frog, supposedContinent has become acclimatised in England. A dark-coloured to have been introduced by the monks centuries since on account of its esculent properties, is plentiful in the fens of Cambridgeshire, while a greener race of the same species was imported to and established in Norfolk somewhere about the year 1840. The edible frog may be distinguished from the common species by the more complete webbing of its hind feet, the absence of the dark so-called temporal spot that extends from the eye to the shoulder, and the presence in the males of a globular sac on each side of the head, which confers upon them louder croaking powers than are possessed by the common species. The loudest-voiced as well as almost the is the BULL- largest member of this group FROG of Canada and the United States. The length of the body in this species may be as much as from 7 to 7 inches, exclusive of the legs; and its croakings, or more correctly bellowings, are so loud that it may be heard for a distance of several miles. These croakings are most pronounced during the early spring or breeding-season. In the Southern United States, however, they are maintained more or less persistently throughout the year. While the British frog contents itself with a diet of slugs, worms, beetles, and other insects, the bull-frog aspires to larger quarry, and has an especial penchant for young ducklings. As a

Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [.Milford-on- Sea. compensation the flesh of the bull-frog is said

RONTGEN RAY PHOTOGRAPH OF COMMON FROG. to be very delicately flavoured, and the species The relatively small amount of bone which enters into the structure of the skull is well shown in this photograph. is so much esteemed in some localities as to be kept in captivity and fattened for the table. It has been recorded that the bull-frog makes leaps of from 8 to 10 feet in length and 5 feet in height. In point of size the bull-frog is somewhat eclipsed by a species discovered in the Solomon Islands, and known as GUPPY'S FROG. This huge frog has a* body no less than 9 inches in length. It has not been recorded whether its vocal powers are proportionately loud. Another large species allied to the Bull-frogs is found in South and East Africa, whose flesh is attested to by Dr. Livingstone as being excellent eating and resembling chicken when cooked. This fall from the clouds, frog, known to the natives as the MATLAMITLO, is supposed by them to on account of its sudden appearance in even the driest parts of the desert immediately after a thunder-storm. The species, however, is in the habit of making holes at the roots of bushes,

Frogs and Toads 601

into which it retires during- the months of drought, rushing out into the hollows filled by the thunder-showers while the rain is still actually falling. Even during the long drought these frogs continue their croakings from their retreats at night, and are very misleading to travellers, who customarily associate their presence with the immediate neighbourhood of water. There is a remarkable difference in the voice-timbre of the various species of frogs. In England, with its one indigenous variety, comparisons cannot be instituted. In countries, however, like Australia, where numbers of species live in close proximity, the phenomenon is very marked. Some only give voice in the evening or night, while others keep up their clamour throughout the day; with some the note is metallic and almost bell-like, while one diurnal croaking species, which congregates in great Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.] [Parson's Green. numbers in the eastern Tasmanian coast district. ORNAMENTED HORNED TOAD. emits a loud percussive note closely resembling The bite of this toad is highly venomous. that of a stone-breaker's hammer. On several occasions, in fact, when driving through the areas these frogs frequented, the impression produced by their croaking was so realistic that the next turn in the road was expected to reveal the presence of a large gang of road-makers engaged in negotiating a wayside stone-heap.

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