SONGLESS BATRACHIANS. 37 



considered fatal, and anything which his saliva 

 touched was said to become poisonous. But the 

 principal absurdity connected with this generally 

 aquatic creature was that he could resist fire— in fact, 

 could extinguish it. Bacon says : " There is an an- 

 cient received tradition of the salamander that it liv- 

 eth in fire, and hath force also to extinguish the fire." 

 And Shakespeare makes Falstaff say : " I have main- 

 tained that salamander of yours with fire any time 

 this two and thirty years ; God reward me for it ! " 

 Even in colonial times a superstitious connection of 

 salamanders with the fire on the kitchen hearth was 

 rife in the minds of simple folk, and old dying em- 

 bers were said to breed them. 



But between fire and water the salamander chooses 

 the latter ; and although some, of the species are ter- 

 restrial in habit, many of them are decidedly aquatic 

 — our little red salamander, for instance. Most of 

 the "lizards," however, are found under the stones 

 on the margin of the brook or the ditch ; but not a 

 few hide among the damp, withered leaves of the 

 forest floor. 



One of the common batrachians of the West is 

 named Necturus maoulatus — the spotted Necturus. 

 His back is crowded with whitish specks, which re- 

 duce the general brown color to a pattern in fine 

 lines. Along the back are also arranged superior 



