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PREFATORY NOTE. 
HE Reptilia and Batrachia form the subjects of this volume. The published 
Reports of the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, and the 
various Bulletins and Papers of the Rational Museum and Smithsonian 
Institution, have been of equal importance in affording the most recent 
facts and views touching American Zoology. 
For the use of the contents of these works we acknowledge the courtesy of the 
Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 
The Fishes and Invertebrates are catalogued and described very fully in the 
above-mentioned publications, all of which are accessible to students or those desiring 
further technical knowledge, but their contents are too voluminous to be • fairly 
utilized in this volume. 
J. B. H. 
Vol. in. 
