BEE Fo D 
ON’ THE 
REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS OF OHIO. 
BY W. H. SMITH, M.D., Px.D. 
INTRODUCTION. 
There are in the State at least thirty-six species of Reptiles and 
twenty-five Amphibians. That vulgar prejudice exists against many of 
these animals, which leads to their being killed wherever met, is a 
common place truth. To show how ill-founded is this prejudice it is 
only necessary to say that there are probably in the State but three 
animals, Crotalus durissus, Banded Rattlesnake, Crotalophorus tergeminus, 
Massassauga, and Ancistrodon contortriz, the Copperhead, which are at all 
venomous. The remainder are perfectly harmless. 
However, these creatures do not simply failof doing evil. They often 
do positive geod. Thus the office of such animals as frogs, salamanders, 
lizards and some snakes, in devouring noxious insects and other vermin, 
is a very important one, and has a direct bearing upon the agricultural 
interests of the State. It remains then a question whether farmers will 
continue to misunderstand and destroy these true friends of theirs or 
whether they shall be protected. 
The food of some of these animals furnishes an interesting object for 
study. Thusthe common Bull Frog, Rana catesbiana, has been known to eat 
insects, helices, worms, mice, spiders preserved in alcohol, and even their 
own species. Two instances of this came under my personal observation. 
In one case having placed two frogs in a jar over night I was surprised 
in the morning to find the smaller one, which was about one-third the 
size of the other, had disappeared. To avoid the possibility of mistake, 
the remaining one was killed, opened, and the other found in hisstomach 
in a semi-digested state, In the other case a large frog was seen in the 
