in 



AMI'Kl.ll 



AMPHIBIA. 



Amomum grandi forum. 



a. The lip and a back view of the anther. .ilyx. 



ft. A front view of the anther. it. stigma. 



AMPKI.riiK.K. one of the names of tlio Vine Tril>c. [Vi; 



AMI'UKKl'STrs. a Kossil Kisli, from the Isle i.f Sheppy. (Kiinig, 

 /con. fottil.) 



AMPHI'BLA. (from the Greek word 4^^>i'/3ior, which signifies 

 'having a double life' ), the name of an order ( pf the class of li 

 In common conversation wo are accustomed to call all mammals, such 

 as seals, otters, beavers, Ac,, amphibious, whose organisation . I 

 them to resort indifferently either to the land or water for procuring 

 food, and other purposes, or whose habits are at once terrestrial and 

 aquatic ; thus we usually denominate the Common Campagnol 

 (Arrieola amphibia), and the White-Bellied Shrew ( Xirrx fodient ), 

 the Water-Rat, anil Water Shrew respectively, and consider them in 

 every respect as amphibious animals. But in thin i-ensc of the word 

 every land-animal is more or less amphibious, for all resort occasion- 

 ally to the water, and, with the single exception of man, all appear 

 to have an instinctive power of swimming. Previous to the time of 

 Limiiptis, the earlier naturalists attached no more definite meaning to 

 the word than that which was sanctioned by popular custom, and 

 which, it will bo observed, is more properly expressed by the term 

 aqnatic. The great Swedish philosopher, however, rejected this vague 



.in.J improper signification, and npplie<l the tenn generally to the 

 third class of his system of /.oology, which comprised not only all 

 the animals since more |ir,.|>-rly tic-nominated /tr;.- .m the 



tortoises, lizard*, serpents, and frog*, but likewise the Cartila. 

 Fishes. Linnicus was evidently ignorant of the true characters and 

 natural limits of this clam of animals. The term A mphibia wan 

 i ert.iinly very applicable to many of the genera and species which 

 it embraced, but with regard to the great majority of them it was an 

 absolute misnomer. The shark and the ray are a* incapa' 

 existing out of the water as many of the common lizards are of 

 living in it, and consequently n. group whi. 



proposed to establish, nor the name by which he designated it, has 

 been adopted by more recent zoologists. The Cartilaginous i 

 have been refem .ther aquatic tribes, with which their 



habits and organic conformation naturally connect them, and the 

 remainder of the class, which stands in (imelin's celebrate 

 the ' Systema Natur.e ' under the name of 



into modern systems under the more appropriate designation of 

 Xrptilrt. 



Taken in its strict and literal sense, the term amphibious would 

 apply only to such animals as have the power of living indill. 

 at the same time, either upon land or in water. To fulfil this 

 condition it is necessary that a truly amphibious animal should be 

 provided with the means of breathing in cither of these elements, 

 that is, that it should simultaneously possess both lungs and gills. 

 Now there are four genera of batrachiau reptiles which actua 

 possess this extraordinary double apparatus for extracting the principle 

 which supports animal life indifferently from either element 

 these, as Baron Cuvier has justly observed, comprise in real 

 only known vertebrated animals which are truly amphibious. They 

 are the AxolotU, the Mawbranrhi, and the Siren*, all of which inhabit 

 the rivers and lakes of America, and the I'roleta, which is found in 

 subterraneous streams connecting certain lakes in Caniiola ami 

 Hungary. These, then, are the only strictly amphibious reptile- : but if 

 the term is taken in a little more extended sense, it may, without impro- 

 priety, be applied to the entire order of RtjtUrt which II. 

 and after him most modern naturalist*, denominate Bairn 

 because all these animals, without exception, breathe by means of gills 

 in their tadpole state, and only acquire lungs when they assume the 

 more mature and perfect form of reptiles. In this sense the term is 

 now employed by English naturalists. 



Some, indeed, as Mr. Bell, Dr. Grant, and other writers, separate 

 the A mphibia from the Beptilu, as a distinct class. 



The A HI i ili!/, in differ essentially from the other three orders of 

 Keptiles : Chdnniaru (Tortoises), Sou riant (Lizards), and n/./. 

 (Serpent-). They have no ribs, or rudiments of ribs only. Their skin 

 is naked, being with. nit scales. They have feet The male has n,, 

 external organs distinctive ..)' sex. In the Frog Trilw the ova arc fin-un- 

 dated on their exclusion from the body of the female : they are shellen 

 imd generally laid in the water. Theyoung, which are called Tn 

 when first hatched, breathe by means of In an- ! much 



after the manner of fishes, being in their early stage of growth quite 

 unlike their parents, mid, in that state, forming a natural passage to 

 the hut-named class of nnimalic These bronchia! disappear hi the 

 higher Aiii)iliiliini>it, and one order has then 1 the 



Caducibranchiatc Amphibia, which have been divided into 

 the Anourinui or '/'' -, having no toils exc. 



young state, including the Vrogs and Toads; and second, the / 

 or TaSi' 'nt, such as toe Salamanders. 



I'mler tin / iihiliin are included the Proltut, 



Siren, M' * '.,.'. /< UK, and A.nilatl. 



The following arrangement of the .I,///,/,//. ,,., l iag 



been published by Messrs. Dumcril and I'.ibron, in their el. 

 ' Krpetologic Gdnorole' : 



f Hotly, varied In form ; rkin naked ; moot frequently without either carapace or wales. 



. with two occipital condyle*, not carried upon a narrower neck. 



Cturutcn < Feet, variable, a regard* their presence, their numhcr, tlicir proportion ; toeii most frequently without claws. 

 1 Sternum, most frequently distinct, never united to the ribs, whit ; - r null. 



I Male organ* of generation not projecting. Kggt with soft not calctireoni sheila. Young, xuhjeet to metamorphoti*. 



Suborders. Group*. 1'aniilie*. 



Nll. Body iwr- 1 



pentiform / rtnmila .... Ophuaoma 



( f DbUnet Mmeroflotui : ( Toothed : ends of too* f Little or not dilated 



No tall, Artourt-i, with I with the upper < \ Very dilatrd 



Poor or I a tongno Jaw . . ( Without teeth 



two. 1 ( Null I'hrynagloua 



f With neither hole* 

 A tail, t'rmlflrt, with J nor branehiir Arfliidfrn 



I 



a neck . 1 With Hutu or din. 



1. CariliaUtl. 



2. Kanijiirmn. 



3. Jlyltrfarmei. 



4. Hiiftinifiirniri, 



t'irmft. 



'imanrlriitrit. 



(. tlnct holes 



:: 



Trfmaloiim ; -with branchial 



( Null . . . . 

 \ Visible and ponistent 



7. Ami>hittmi< 



8. FrottUm. 



In this article we shall (peak of the organisation and natural 1 

 of th> lotrjM: first, the Anon rout or Tuilli** 



Amphibia, and secondly, the Urodiln or Tailed Amphibia. 



Asomom or TAILI.WS AWMIIIUA. 



Skeleton. The skull, in the Reptiles generally, is made up of the 

 part* nearly as that of the mammiferou* animals, though tho 



proportions an' dill'erent. But the lower Ani)iliH>iit. wlii.-h api 



irtieulnr, have not. the "tiding 



80 completely with the sin-lace ol't 1 li as tl ther I,'. 



The .-i. ""ll ax the cerebral cn\ 



I with the brain. It is nai-rowei and in. .re 



elongated in ; h ]ia>- their whol,. live; in the v.:>tet than 



c, or True Frogs. 



