CLASS lY. BATRACHIA: ORDER 2. URODELA. 



413 



THE SURINAM TOAD. 



eggs laid by the female in the edge of the water, and presses them down ; they are then covered 

 by a natural operculum, and there they are hatched, in the same manner as the free larvae of the 

 other Batrachians. Notwithstanding the hideous aspect of this species of toad, the people of 

 Guiana and Surinam, where it is found, feed upon it. 



ORDER 2. URODELA. 



The term JJrodela signifies having a tail, and is descriptive of the animals of this order; it 

 includes two families, the first bearing the general name of Salamandrid^, which are usually 

 divided into two groups, the aquatic salamanders, called Tritons, and the terrestrial salamanders 

 or True Salamanders ; the other family consists of the Amphiumid^. We can only notice a few 

 prominent species. 



THE SALAMANDRID^. 



Genus TRITON : Triton. — This includes several species, which spend a great part of their 

 time in the water and generally live on aquatic insects. In the winter, they lie in a torpid 

 state, several of them rolled up together like a ball, and occupying some hole in the ground. 



The Common Warty-Newt of 

 Europe, T. cristatus — the Orosse 

 Wasser- Salamander of Germany, 

 Salamandre of the French — is six 

 inches long, and is common in 

 large ponds and ditches, where it 

 feeds voraciously on aquatic insects 

 and other small animals, as tadpoles, 

 newts, &c. It swims chiefly by its 

 tail. The female deposits her eggs 

 one by one, on different leaves, in 

 the water ; ere long they are hatched, 

 and, in their various stages of develop- 

 ment, display the forms as repre- 

 sented in the annexed engraving. 

 After passing through several trans- 

 formations, in which they have had 

 the appearance and functions of fishes, 

 at length, toward the close of autumn, 

 they reach their perfection, and arrive at the dignity of reptiles. This species is common in 

 Europe. The other species pass through similar metamorphoses. 



DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG WARTY-NEWTS. 



