O OUR REPTILES. 



The third order includes all the snakes, from 

 the monstrous Boa constrictor and the dreadful 

 Rattlesnake and Cobra to the Ringed Snake and 

 Viper of our own islands. Of these we possess 

 but three, two of which belong to the harmless 

 snakes and the third to the venomous snakes. 

 There are many others known on the Continent 

 of Europe which do not occur on this side the 

 Channel, and in Ireland those of Britain are also 

 unknown. 



The last group or order contains the Amphi- 

 bians, or those reptiles which at some period of 

 their lives inhabit the water and are truly aquatic, 

 and at another are either wholly or chiefly ter- 

 restrial. There are some very singular creatures 

 in this group, such as the Salamander, to which 

 such romantic stories of its incombustibility be- 

 longed, and of whom it was said, "If a salamander 

 bites you, put on your shroud." As late as 1789 

 a French consul at Rhodes, hearing a loud cry 

 in his kitchen, rushed to learn the cause, when 

 his cook, in a horrible fright, informed him that 

 he had seen a certain personage, who shall be 

 nameless, in the fire. The consul affirms that he 

 thereupon looked into the bright fire and saw a 

 little animal with open mouth and palpitating 

 throat. He took up the tongs to secure it, but 

 at first it scampered into a corner of the chimney, 

 lost a bit of its tail, then hid amongst some hot 



