THE BATRACHIANS OF THE VICINITY OF NEW YORK CITY.' 
By Raymonp L. DITMars, 
Curator of Reptiles, New York Zodlogical Park. 
With Illustrations from Photographs Taken from Life 
By HERBERT LANG, 
American Museum of Natural History. 
INTRODUCTION. 
SSO LLOWING the reptiles in zodlogical classification 
rv. come the batrachians, creatures which may be 
said to constitute a connecting link between the 
reptiles and the fishes. Unlike the former, the 
great majority of batrachians begin life as strictly 
aquatic, fish-like forms, provided with gills, which with many 
species are elaborately developed in the shape of external, 
fringed processes. From this aquatic form, with gills (the tad- 
pole or larval stage), the average batrachian ultimately matures 
into a creature constituted to breathe atmospheric air. 
Swamps and bogs and the borders of streams and ponds are 
usually the homes of the batrachians, which thrive in such damp 
situations. Some species, like the toad, are quite terrestrial, and 
many are subterraneous, but with few exceptions they frequent 
the immediate vicinity of water or damp and shaded places. 
There are species that remain aquatic throughout life, like the 
Mud Puppy (Necturus) and the Hellbender (Cryptobranchus), 
both North American species. In the Old World is found the 
Proteus, a blind and translucent species, that passes its entire 
existence in underground rivers or in the dark lakes of European 
caverns. 
1 Issued also in separate form as Guide Leaflet No. 20. 
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