Q2 



CLASSIFICATION OF AMPHIBIANS. 



jaws furnished with numerous small teeth. Similar teeth 

 are also in the palate^ and the tongue resembles that of 

 the frog. In the young state they are tadpoles, and the 

 front feet are developed before the hinder pair make 

 their appearance. These reptiles are divided into such 



as frequent the land^ and such as live in fresh waters. 

 The land salamanders (^Salamandra, Jig. 25.) are known 

 in their adult state by having a cylindrical or rounded 

 tail, although in their early state the tail of the common 

 species (^S. maculosa) is vertically compressed, and the 

 respiration is by gills. It appears indeed that, not- 

 withstanding their name, the land salamanders are aU 

 inhabitants of water before they acquire their perfect 

 growth, and that they again frequent that element to 

 deposit their young. During the day, these creatures 

 may be found in damp and humid places, particularly 

 at the edge of walls or other buildings, hid among the 

 rank grass, for in such situations their food, which 

 chiefly consists of slugs and worms, is more readily 

 procured. To this division belongs the animal so ce- 

 lebrated by the ancients for its fancied resistance of 

 fire, a fable which probably had its origin in the cir- 

 cumstance of the salamander being able to emit in 

 time of danger an acrid milky fluid, which oozes from 

 a range of tubercles placed on the sides of the body. 



