86 



AMPHIBIA, OK BATRACHIANS. 



We have already intimated the reasons wherefore 

 the Batrachians are now separated, more widely than 

 heretofore, in a scientific sense, from the true Rep- 

 tiles, although they are still associated in the popu- 

 lar mind with them in almost indissoluble bonds. 

 This class includes those of the whole order Eeptilia, 

 in its broadest sense, which at some period of their 

 lives inhabit the water, and are truly aquatic, and at 

 another are either wholly or chiefly terrestrial. 

 There are some very singular creatures in this group, 

 such as the Salamanders, to which such romantic 

 stories of their incombustibility pertain, and of whom 

 it is said, " If a salamander bites you, put on your 

 shroud." As late as 1789, a French Consul at 

 Rhodes, hearing a loud cry in his kitchen, rushed to 

 learn the cause, when his cook, in a horrible fright, 

 informed him that he had seen a " certain person- 

 age," who shall be nameless, in the fire. The Consul 

 affirms that he thereupon looked into the bright 

 fire, and saw a little animal with open mouth and 

 palpitating throat. He took up the tongs to secure 



