WHAT IS AN AMPHIBIOUS ANIMAL? 
In the old books of Natural History the amphibious 
animals held an important and conspicuous position, and, 
notwithstanding the advancement of science, a vast multi- 
tude of people still entertain the same ideas and notions of 
amphibious animals that have been banished from most 
Natural Histories for at least a hundred years. 
It is not therefore surprising to hear the remark issue 
from the crowd of persons upon seeing the hippopotamus 
in the water, that it is amphibious. The same remark 
is still applied to the seal, the otter, the beaver, the croco- 
dile, and many other animals. To tell these people that 
these creatures are only aquatic, or semi-aquatic, and are 
not now regarded as formerly, and that amphibious animals 
are now restricted to the batrachians, or, in other words, to 
the frogs, toads, and animals who in the early stages of 
their existence breathe by means of gills, and that the term 
amphibious, as formerly applied, has become obsolete, may, 
to those who have attended in the most trifling manner to 
the advance of Natural History, appear quite uncalled-for 
and unnecessary, for it is indeed astonishing to And how 
slowly these matters advance, as though information of 
this kind was resisted, reminding one of the story of the 
old woman whose income was much increased by showing 
visitors over an ancient castle, and who carefully pointed 
out a stain on the floor where, in ages long ago, some dread- 
ful deed of blood had been committed, telling them that 
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