138 



ANIMAL BIOLOGY 



Any batrachian may easily be passed around the class after placing 

 it in a tumbler with gauze or net tied over top. It should be kept in a 

 box with two inches of moist earth on the bottom. If no live insects 

 are obtainable for feeding a toad, bits of moist meat may be dangled 

 from the end of a string. If tadpoles are placed in a pool or tub in a 

 garden, the toads hatched will soon make destructive garden insects 

 become a rarity. 



Does a frog or a salamander have the more primitive 

 form of body ? Why do you think so ? Salamanders are 

 sometimes called mud puppies. The absurd belief that 

 salamanders are poisonous is to be classed with the belief 

 that toads cause warts. The belief among the ancients 

 that salamanders ate fire arose perhaps from seeing them 

 coming away from fires that had been built over their 

 holes on river banks by travelers. Their moist skin pro- 

 tected them until the fire became very hot. 



Describe the "mud puppy" shown in Fig. 262. In the 

 West the pouched gopher, or rat (Fig. 371), is sometimes 

 absurdly called a salamander. 



FlG. 262. — Blind Salamander (Proteus anguinus). x \. Found in caves and 

 underground streams in Balkans. Gills external, tail finlike, legs small. 



