REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS 39 



for instance, the common newt, one of the salamanders, is represented by 

 a series of five life-size casts showing the process of shedding the skin; 

 Pickering's hyla or the "spring peeper" is shown with vocal sacs inflated: 

 and so on. 



The classification of these animals is shown in the upright cases; 

 the groups in the center of the hall represent various reptiles as they 

 appear in their natural haunts. They include the tuberculated iguana, 

 the water moccasin, the diamond-backed rattlesnake, the Texas rattle- 

 snake, the copperhead, the Gila monster, the pine snake, the- box tortoise 

 and the common painted turtle. 



One of the most interesting of the groups is a jungle scene in India 



showing a water monitor, one of the largest of living lizards, the 



_ , „ poisonous Russell's viper and the deadly spectacled cobra. 



Cobra Group ' ' . , , •, 



the last with hood distended and poised ready to strike. 



The cobra is said to lie the cause of a large proportion of the 20,00(1 

 deaths which annually occur in India from snake-bite. Examine care- 

 fully the group of the copperhead snake or "red-eye," one of the two 

 Copperhead species of poisonous snakes to be found in the vicinity 

 Snake Group of New York, and also the group contrasting the harmless 

 watersnake with the poisonous water moccasin of southern cypress 

 swamps. Two groups are devoted to rattlesnakes, which are easily 

 recognized by the string of rattles at the end of the tail, by means of 

 which they give warning before they strike. There are comparatively 

 few species of poisonous snakes in the United States — about sixteen in 

 all — comprising rattlesnakes, the moccasin, copperhead and two kinds 

 of coral snake. All other species are harmless and in spite of the 

 almost universal prejudice against them are very useful allies of man, 

 since they live chiefly on rats, mice and insects injurious to crops. 



Entering the darkened room nearby we find a group of unusual in- 

 terest, showing the common Bullfrog of North America. This group is 

 Bullfrog a study of the bullfrog undisturbed in its typical haunt. 



Group It illustrates the changes from the tadpole to the adult 



frog and shows many of the activities of the frog — its molting, swim- 

 ming, breathing under water and in air, croaking and "lying low" 

 before an enemy; also its food habits in relation to small mammals, 

 to birds, snakes, insects, snails, to small fish and turtles. 



Another group is the Great Salamander or Hellbender, best known in 

 the creeks of western Pennsylvania. The group pictures them at 

 breeding time, and shows their characteristic stages and habits: thus 

 Great one of the salamanders is pictured molting, another, a 



Salamander male, is brooding a great mass of eggs; and the group 

 explains many details of their manner of living. 



