PEEFATOEY XOTE. 



'HE Eeptilia and Batracliia form the subjects of tliis volume. The published 

 Reports of the Fnited States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, and the 

 various Bulletins and Papers of the National Museum and Smithsonian 

 Institution, have been of equal importance in affording the most recent 

 facts and views touching American Zoology. 



For the iise of the contents of these works we acknowledge the courtesy of the 

 Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 



The Fishes and Invertebrates are catalogued and described very fully in the 

 above-mentioned publications, all of which are accessible to students or those desiring 

 fui'ther technical knowledge, but their contents are too voluminous to be fairly 

 utilized in this volume- 



J. B. H. 



