416 WILD ANIMALS 
Salamanders. — These are amphibians that have retained their tails 
instead of losing them as frogs and toads do when they change from 
water to land going animals. In form they resemble lizards, and some 
people mistake them for, that class of animals. But they are not related 
to lizards. The body is not covered with scales like the lizard’s, but 
they have a perfectly smooth skin like 
the frog’s. They have four feet, but 
they have no claws as lizards have. 
There are many species of salaman- 
ders. All are slow in movement, exceed- 
ingly helpless, and perfectly harmless. 
The most common is the Spotted Sala- 
mander, which is dark brown or black 
SporreD SALAMANDER above and has a row of yellow spots 
along each side of the back. It meas- 
ures about 6 inches in length, plus 2} inches for the tail. It lives in 
almost any kind of situation, but preferably where it is somewhat shady 
and damp, and is often found in cellars and old wells as well as in 
gardens and waste places. 
PROJECTS AND QUESTIONS 
The Bat 
If a bat should be captured by any member of the school it should be 
kept in a suitable box or cage in the schoolroom for the purpose of getting 
thoroughly acquainted with it. 
1. Its food. — When first caught the bat may open its mouth in a 
very threatening manner; drop in a bit of food — a fly or mosquito or 
small scrap of raw meat will do. It will soon become tame and contented 
in captivity, and then further tests may be made with a variety of insects. 
It will thus be seen that a family of bats, feeding on night-flying insects, 
must be quite beneficial to a garden or farm. 
2. Its mouth. — Notice how wide the mouth opens, making it easy 
to catch insects on the wing. Birds with similar feeding habits also 
have a mouth with a very wide gape. 
3. Structure of the wings. — Notice the bones of the legs and the arms 
with the four very long fingers; the attachment of the web to these bones 
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