100 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY 



committed, and the animal sutler no harm/' aud this accounts for 

 the other long-cherished myth! Myth and miracle both have 

 their origin in ignorance, and the only radical cure for either 

 affection known to me, is a heroic dose of a full knowledge of 

 the facts pertaining to any particular subject. 



A marvelous variety of interesting forms are included in the 

 Anura, being represented in this country principally by the 

 Frogs (liana, Scaphiopus, Spea, Hi/la, Acris, and others) and by 

 the Toads (Bufo); while in other parts of the world both of these 

 groups have a vast number of genera and species, aud a third 

 group is found created to contain the Surinam toad iPipa) and 

 Xenopns (Dactylethra capensis). They have been classified upon 

 their anatomical peculiarities, but this classification must still 

 be considered in a degree provisional, until worked out in greater 

 detail and more extensive comparisons made. 



The forms and appearances of typical frogs, a Cricket frog, 

 toads aud tree-toads, are so well known, even to casual ob- 

 servers, that space will be gained here by the omission of de- 

 tailed descriptions. The literature upon this division of the 

 Amphibia is quite profuse, and the student to gain a good knowl- 

 edge of the subject should read such books and articles as the 

 very excellent work by Prof. St. George Mivart, F.R.S., on " The 

 Common Frog " (1881); Prof. Huxley's article "Amphibia," in the 

 ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica; Cunther's Cata- 

 logue of the Batrachia Salientia; Prof. Cope's numerous works; 

 Mivart's essay " On the Classification of the Anurous Batrach- 

 ians;" the anatomical contributions of the Parkers, of Owen, 

 of Gegenbaur, of Sabatier, and many other writers. From these 

 one will gain very general information upon the geological his- 

 tory of frogs and toads; upon their general and special structure 

 and habits; their distribution and their classification. All adult 

 frogs and toads, as the name Anura implies, are tailless, possess- 

 ing as they do four well-developed limbs, and short, squatty 

 bodies, large mouths, scaleless, smooth skins, big eyes; and 

 they may be with or without tongue, and with or without teeth. 

 Many of them habitually live in the water, while others only re- 

 sort to that element for the purpose of depositing their egg- 

 masses. In the reproduction of young frogs they pass through 

 changes (metamorphoses) corresponding to the development of 

 young fish. Anyone who has studied " pond-life " is familiar 

 with the jelly-like mass of eggs deposited in the water by female 



