40 THE COMMON FROG. [chap 



These Newts, which are thus by circumstances 

 placed actually in juxtaposition with the Frog, are 

 also zoologically his nearest allies outside his own 

 (Frog and Toad) order. Like the Frog they undergo 

 a metamorphosis, at first appearing as Eft-tadpoles 

 (with elongated external gills, but devoid of limbs), 

 subsequently losing the gills and acquiring limbs. 

 Efts, as is manifest, are widely and strangely different 

 in form from frogs and toads. 



Thus is justified the assertion before made as to 

 the far less exceptional form of the human body than 

 that of the Frog. For when, amongst Mammalia, we 

 eo outside that order to which Man belon^^s, we find 

 in his class other creatures (insect-eating, flesh-eating, 

 and of the squirrel kind) which more or less closely 

 resemble some of the lower members of man's order. 

 When, however, amongst Batrachia, we go outside 

 that order to which the Frog belongs, we find in his 

 class no creatures whatever which present anything 

 like such an approximation to any members of the 

 Frog's order as is presented by the mammals above 

 referred to certain members of man's order. « 



The Efts (or Newts) with their allies — hereinafter 

 noticed — constitute the second order Urodela of the 

 class Batrachia. 



This order is very unlike the first and already 

 described order {A^wura), in that it is composed of 

 creatures which in many respects are strangely 

 divergent ; and though most of the species more or 

 less resemble our own Efts (or Newts) in shape, yet 

 the Urodela are very far from constituting such a 

 homogeneous group as do the Anonra. 



