598 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



by the so-called BuSH-MASTER, a snake which 

 attains to a length of as much as from 9 to 

 12 feet, and, in addition to being exceedingly- 

 venomous, is of an especially fierce and aggres- 

 sive disposition. It is devoid of a rattle-like 

 appendage, the tail terminating in a sharp 

 horny spine. The Fer-DE-LANCE, or Rat-TAILED 

 P[T-virEK,is anotherCentral and SouthAmerican 

 species, held in wholesome dread on account 

 of its death-dealing potentialities. The South 

 American sugar-plantations are an especially 

 favourite resort of this deadly snake, its attrac- 

 tion being the rats which frequent the canes 

 and afford its chief food. L}'ing concealed 

 among the thick foliage, it will launch itself 

 aggressively at any passer-b}', and its bite is 

 usually attended with fatal results within a few 

 hours. The fer-dc-lance grows to a length 

 of 6 or 7 or occasionally even 8 feet, with a 

 thickness of a man's arm. Its colours, as with 

 most members of its tribe, are somewhat variable. 

 The ground-colour of the back is usually olive 

 or reddish brown, with dark cross-bands; a 

 black stripe runs backwards from the eye to 

 the neck, and in some instances the sides of 

 the body are bright red. 



The American Continent is not wanting in 



aquatic representatives of the Viperine series. 



The most notable of these is the fish-eating Wa'PER-VU'ER, whose distribution extends from 



North Carolina in the south over the whole of North America as far westward as the Rocky 



Mountains. Fish and frogs constitute the main diet of this reptile. 



phut hy Schc as 



Fhl„ ( 1 



BULL-FROG 



The croaking of thii species ma\ be heard at a distance of se'veral 

 miles 



AMPHI BI ANS 



CHAPTER VI 



FROGS AND TOADS 



THE Amphibian Class, through the 

 Newts and Salamanders more espe- 

 cially, would appear at first sight to 

 have much in common with and to be most 

 closelyallied to the Lizards, previously described. 

 As a matter of fact, however, the group is much 

 more nearly related to the Fishes. Quite the 

 most characteristic feature in the Amphibians 

 that is indicative of the above-mentioned affinity 

 is the circumstance that for a more or less longer 

 period of their existence their respiratory or- 

 gans take the form of external gills, structures 

 not found in any of the preceding vertebrate 

 classes. Another diagnostic character of the 



Phil, tj W. p. Dand,, F.Z.S. 



AMERICAN BULL-FROG 



Young ducks are sometimes a food of this z'oracious Batrachian 



