TEMPERATE AMERICA.— FISH, ETC, 67 
foundland, are of vast importance to commerce, and 
will be noticed elsewhere. The reptiles offer nothing 
definite in regard to their distribution. The serpents 
are numerous, and many are believed venomous. The 
rattlesnakes are peculiar to the New World; but those 
of North America are of a different species to that found 
in Brazil. The immense Boa constrictor, and the equally 
gigantic species with which it has been confounded, are, 
fortunately, strangers to this region. ‘There are several 
land tortoises, but, with one exception, they are all of a 
moderate size. This is a gigantic species, inhabiting the 
Gallipagos, a cluster of islands which come within the 
range of latitude assigned to this zoological region. Dr. 
Harlan, an able and zealous naturalist of America, first 
made us acquainted with this gigantic creature, named by 
him Testudo  ele- 
phantopus (fig. 25.), 
or the elephant tor- 
toise: other writers 
have mere recently 
considered ita variety 
of the Indian tortoise 
(7. Indica), but this 
appears very ques- 
tionable. Some curious salamanders have been recently 
discovered ; and the celebrated Siren is an inhabit- 
ant of the muddy lakes of Georgia and Carolina: this 
singular reptile had long perplexed naturalists, some 
thinking it a tadpole or imperfect frog; it is now, 
however, fully ascertained to be an adult animal. 
(94.) The third great division of American zoology 
comprises the whole of the southern peninsula, from the 
Gulf of Mexico to the extremity of Paraguay, beyond 
which latitude lie regions whose animals are little known. 
There is, however, no reason to exclude those countries 
from our survey of this portion of America, although 
we have nothing to guide our judgment as to the transi- 
tion which nature may here effect into the Fauna of 
some other region. 
FQ 
