396 NEW YORK STATE MUSBDM 



BATRACHIA 



Batrachiaiis, or ampliibians, are vertebrates with, soft skins, which 

 possess gills, either during their earlier or larval stages only or 

 throughout life, and which usually breathe by lungs in the adult. 



The living representatives of the group are divided into three 

 orders : 1) PiNDteida, which retain their gills throughout life, and of 

 which our only representative is the mud puppy, N e c t n r u s ; 2} 

 Urodela, long-tailed forms which lose their gills in the adult stage 

 and include the salamanders and newts ;^ and 3) (Anura) Salientia,. 

 tailless forms, without gills in the adult and with hind legs adapted 

 for leaping, and including the frogs and toads. 



The adult batrachians are found mostly in moist places, their soft 

 skins generally untitting them for the hot, dry places which many 

 of the reptiles are so fond of. Thus the greater number of forms 

 are found in or near water (frogs and some salamanders) or under 

 stones and logs in woods (most salamanders). A few, such as the 

 tree frogs are arboreal ; others, including some of the salamanders 

 and the wood frog, are found on the ground in dry woods ; while 

 the common toad is found everywhere on land. 



In tlic spring, however, almost all forms seek the water to breed. 

 Their eggs are the round black bodies contained in the transparent 

 jellylike masses which are so frequently found in ponds. These 

 give rise to the well known limbless tadpoles, or polliwogs, which. 

 possess gills and are thus fitted for a snbaquatic, fishlike existence. 

 After a shorter or longer period, the limbs appear and lungs 

 develop, while tlie gills disappear (in most cases), so that the animal, 

 becomes an air-breathing, instead of water-breathing form. 



The batrachians are -all perfectly harmless forms and, with very 

 few exceptions, never even attempt self-defense. For their protec- 

 tion from enemies they rely on their coloration and on their places 

 of concealment. 



Their food consists almost entirely of insects, so that they have a 

 distinct economic value. 



'• There is no common American term for these forms, though the word lizard 

 is occasionally employed. This is a misnomer, as the lizards are reptiles, which, 

 while they resemble the Ijatrachians in form, have a scaly skin and never have 

 gills. 



