ANIMAL LIFE 



are aquatic. The common toad, though a lover of the 

 dryest soil, habitually repairs to the quiet pool in late 

 spring to deposit its five thousand eggs in a gelatinous 



FlG. 339. Mature Ainblystoma one half natural size. 



string, from whence issue in a week the well-known black 

 tadpoles, legless and lungless, and in fact with no sem- 

 blance to their warty 

 mother. They breathe by 

 means of gills, to which 

 there is a small opening 

 on the left-hand side of the 

 neck. In a month or two 

 hind legs appear and the 

 front ones break through 

 the skin as the tail begins 

 to be absorbed. Mean- 

 while, lungs have developed 

 witliin and the young, an 

 inch or less in length, are 



ready for life On land. FIG. 340. Embryo snake within the egg 

 <_ f ,-, , . from which the top of the shell has 



Progs frequently continue been cut away. 



