574 



ORDER IV.BATRACHIA. 



512. The peculiarities of this curious order have already 

 been dwelt upon in so much detail, that we need not do more 

 than notice the principal varieties of form which it includes. 

 These, like the varieties of the Marsupialia, which occupy a 

 somewhat corresponding position among the Mammals, are very 

 numerous and remarkable ; the other orders of the Reptile class 

 finding their representatives, so to speak, in this one; whilst many 

 of its forms present us with a very close resemblance to the Fishes. 

 The family RANID^E, including the Frogs, Toads, &c., is the 

 one in which the metamorphoses is most complete, the perfect 

 form being most unlike the Tadpole state. The different species 

 vary in size and in the adaptation of their structure to aquatic 

 habits ; but in other respects they have a close correspondence. 



They have a broad, short, de- 

 pressed body, quite destitute of 

 any tail. Their hind-legs are 

 much larger than the anterior 

 pair; and they are the chief 

 instruments in the progression of 

 the animal, which is accom- 

 plished on land by leaping, and 

 in water by swimming. The 

 family is divided into three 

 groups; the Frogs, which have 

 teeth in their upper jaw, and 



FIG. 242. TOAD. , . . - , , ,, rr< j 



their feet webbed ; the Toads, 



which have no teeth in either jaw, and the toes but little 

 connected with webs ; and the Hylm or Tree Frogs, which 

 have the ends of their toes dilated into small pads, that enable 

 them to walk on the under sides of smooth surfaces, in the 

 manner of the Geckos ( 467). The food of all these is nearly 

 the same, consisting of insects, slugs, &c., in the capture of 

 which the tongue performs an important part. The Tree 



