TEMPERATE AMERICA. FISH, ETC. 67 



foundland, are of vast importance to commerce, and 

 will be noticed elsewhere. The reptiles offer nothing 

 definite in regard to their distribution. The serpents 

 are numerous, and many are believed venomous. The 

 rattlesnakes are peculiar to the New World ; but those 

 of North America are of a different species to that found* 

 in Brazil. The immense Boa constrictor, and the equally 

 gigantic species with which it has been confounded, are, 

 fortunately, strangers to this region. There are several 

 land tortoises, but, with one exception, they are all of a 

 moderate size. This is a gigantic species, inhabiting the 

 Gallipagos, a cluster of islands which come within the 

 range of latitude assigned to this zoological region. Dr. 

 Harlan, an able and zealous naturalist of America, first 

 made us acquainted with this gigantic creature, named by 

 5 him Testudo ele- 



phantopus (fig. 25.), 

 or the elephant tor- 

 toise : other writers 

 have more recently 

 considered it a variety 

 of the Indian tortoise 

 (T.Indica), but this 

 appears very ques- 

 tionable. Some curious salamanders have been recently 

 discovered ; and the celebrated Siren is an inhabit- 

 ant of the muddy lakes of Georgia and Carolina : this 

 singular reptile had long perplexed naturalists, some 

 thinking it a tadpole or imperfect frog ; it is now, 

 however, fully ascertained to be an adult animal. 



(94.) The third great division of American zoology 

 comprises the whole of the southern peninsula, from the 

 Gulf of Mexico to the extremity of Paraguay, beyond 

 which latitude lie regions whose animals are little known. 

 There is, however, no reason to exclude those countries 

 from our survey of this portion of America, although 

 we have nothing to guide our judgment as to the transi- 

 tion which nature may here effect into the Fauna of 

 some other region. 



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