396 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



BATRACHIA 



Batrachians, or amphibians, 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) Proteida, which retain their gills throughout life, and o: 

 which our only representative is the mud puppy, Nectnriis; 2)> 

 Urodela, long-tailed forms which lose their gills in the adult stag3 

 and include the salamanders and newts; 1 and 3) (Anura) Salienti^ 

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

 for leaping, and including the frogs and toads. 



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

 skins generally unfitting them for the hot, dry places which maiy 

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

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

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

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

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

 the common toad is found everywhere on land. 



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

 Their eggs are the round black bodies contained in the transient 

 jellylike masses which are so frequently found in ponds, .hese- 

 give rise to the well known limbless tadpoles, or polliwogs,vhicli 

 possess gills and are thus fitted for a subaquatic, fishlike extence. 

 After a shorter or longer period, the limbs appear an( lungs 

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

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



The batrachians are all perfectly harmless forms and, *th very 

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

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

 of concealment. 



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

 distinct economic value. 



1 There is no common American term for these forms, though 5 word lizard 

 is occasionally employed. This is a misnomer, as the lizards areP n l es > which, 

 while they resemble the batrachians in form, have a scaly skin 1 *} never have- 

 gills. 



