CHAPTER V. 



Winter 



AMONG the reptiles there are so many water trespassers 

 that it is difficult to determine the species with which 

 to begin, especially as there are some beings which 

 occupy so closely the boundary line between reptiles 

 and fishes, that it is not easy to fix their exact place. 

 Again, the reptiles being divided into two distinct 

 portions the one of which is represented by the frogs, 

 toads, and newts, while the other consists of lizards, 

 tortoises, and serpents we find ourselves in some con- 

 fusion as to their precedence. 



The best plan is, as I think, to take those creatures 

 first which, like the seals among the mammalia, pass 

 almost the whole of their lives in the water, although 

 they are capable of living upon land. Familiar 

 examples of the most perfect form of these creatures 

 may be found in our Common Frog and Newt, which, 

 however, unlike each other externally, are constructed 

 exactly on the same model as regards their power of 

 water trespassing, and differ chiefly in their mode of 

 propulsion, whether in water or on land. 



It is evident, for example, that the Newt, which 



