200 
THE LIVING ANIMALS 
OF THE WORLD 
1 
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Photo by Scholastic Photo Co.] 
[Parson's Green 
BULL~FROG 
The croaking of this species may be heard ata distance of several 
miles 
by the so-called BUSH-MASTER, a snake which 
attains to a length of as much as from 9g 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 
hornyspine. The FER-DE-LANCE, or RAT-TAILED 
PIT-VIPER,is another Central and South American 
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. Lying concealed 
among the thick foliage, it will launch itself 
aggressively at any passer-by, and its bite is 
usually attended with fatal results within a few 
hours. The fer-de-iance 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 WATER-VIPER, 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. 
AMPHIBIANS 
CHAPTER Vi 
FROGS AND TOADS 
HE 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 
closely allied to the Lizards, previously described. 
Asamatter 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 
Phote by H’, P. Dando, F.Z.S. 
AMERICAN BULL-FROG 
Young ducks are sometimes a food of this voracious Batrachian 
