cllArTKIJ \\\ III 



AMPHir.iA: siKKXs. rK()ri:AN>. > AL AM AM)i:i:s. rK()(;s. 



tim-j: i'K()(;s, and toads 



Fur ail iii.sectivuroii.s animal which coiituniis to every nMiuiroiiieiit of thf 

 situation — ease of control and rai)i(l increase, noninjnrious in any nunilK'i-s. 

 an active feeder in alnindance and a patient faster in scarcity — the toad 

 stands i)rol)ably first on the list ainoni; American insectivorous a/iimals. — 

 MiLLEK. " Biology of the American Toad."" A nuriridt Xtitunilisf.yiA \IJI1 



lilt' aiiipliil)ia mo a relalivcly small okjuj, ,,|" alj<ml 1400 

 species, of diverse kinds (from wormlike cjeeilians, iluouLrli ili,. 

 two-leo'o-ed and l( air-legged sirens and salamanders, lo frntrs 

 and toads) — aquatic, semiaquatic and terrestrial — form- 

 ing, as the name im[)lies, a transition series from tin- tislies 

 to the liigher land animals. All ani[)liil)ia are carnivorous, 

 manv of our common forms raid\in<'" with hirds as cllicient 

 destroyers of insects ; and as a grou[) they cover the whole field, 

 tor salamanders, bullfrogs, ami other a<iuatic species hunt the 

 waters of our ponds and streams and their innnediale shores, 

 wood frogs and toads and many of (he salamanders follow 

 insects of the ground both Iw day and l»y inght. and tree 

 frogs are especially adajited to feeding npon insects ot forest 

 and orchard.^ 



Amnhil)ia helonu" exclnsiveU' to fresh waters and the land. 

 I hey are comparatively small, the largest modern am[)hil)ian 

 being the giant salamander n\' Japan, which is said to reach a 



1 Ilornaday's statement, " With very few exceptions, the ampliibians an- 

 quite useless to man "" (Natural History, p. 300), is evidently made without 

 due rejj:ard to their powers of insect destruction or even to their uses as 

 llsh bait. 



