72 MANUAL OF NATUEAL HISTORY. 



pointed; nostrils lateral, small, inferior ; chest 

 covered with large and differently shaped 

 shields from rest of body ; limbs none ; prae- 

 anal pores none ; tail short, truncate. 

 4. FAMILY. Chirotes (Chirotidse). Teeth on inner 

 edge of jaws, conical, recurved, simple, point- 

 ed, unequal, separate; limbs 2, anterior, short, 

 weak ; toes 5, sub-equal, one clawless ; prse- 

 anal pores distinct ; tail short, cylindrical. 



AMPHIBIANS. 



Until a recent period Amphibians were, by syste- 

 matic writers, included under the head of Reptiles, 

 constituting the Linnaean order of Batrachians ; but 

 a more careful and attentive study of their develop- 

 ment and structure, led to their being established as 

 a separate class.* To the popular mind most of the 

 members of this tribe are objects of the greatest ab- 

 horrence, whereby many an unfortunate toad has 

 been sacrificed at the shrine of vulgar prejudice. For- 

 merly they were subjects of even more intense de- 

 testation, so much so as to be commonly connected 

 with what was then looked on as a deadly crime, 

 viz., witchcraft ; and Shakspere mentions, among 

 the contents of the witches' cauldron, not merely the 

 persecuted toad, but likewise 



" Eye of newt, toe of frog." 



Nay, to such an extent was this belief carried, 



* By Latreille. Vide " Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Na- 

 turelle," Ire. edition. 1804. 



