INTRODUCTORY. 



IT is only too often that one, not a specialist in some line of 

 scientific work asks bread of those who have devoted them- 

 selves more especially to that department of science and 

 receives but a stone. There are at present many general and 

 local works on the subject of the animals and plants about us, 

 but few are adapted to the non-specialist and fewer still to the 

 layman. To read the majority of these works it is necessary to 

 become conversant, often to quite a degree, with the nomenclature 

 and technicalities used. This, to say the least, is burdensome to 

 a general reader and often results in annulling any interest he 

 may have had in the subject. 



The present paper is an attempt to put in a form comprehen- 

 sible to general readers an account of the reptiles and batrachians 

 of the State. If the paper is too technical to be used by any 

 intelligent person it fails of its purpose. It is, however, impos- 

 sible to discuss a subject such as this without the use of any 

 uncommon terms ; the very fact that the two groups under con- 

 sideration are themselves generally unfamiliar is a confirmation 

 of this statement. But the attempt has been made in the present 

 paper to reduce such terms to a minimum and to fully explain 

 those that must be used. 





