26 
ROOM IX. 
Nat. Hist. 
the tadpole, or larva of which, is larger than the per¬ 
fect animal, losing at its metamorphosis its enormous 
tail and external skin;—whence the older naturalists 
fancied the order of nature was reversed in this animal, 
and that the frog became a tadpole, or, as they called 
it, a fish,—an error long since exploded. The Tree 
Frogs (. Hyla ), have the ends of their toes dilated into a 
roundish disk, by which they climb. The Horned Frogs 
have the eyebrows extended into horns. 
In Case 3 are Tcads (. Bufo ), some of them exceed¬ 
ingly large. The Bombinatores, or Earless Toads, dif¬ 
fer from the others, merely by having the tympanum 
concealed under the skin. Some, as the Rhinellae, have 
their nose produced to a point; and one ( Pipa ) is re¬ 
markable for its flattened shape, and for the manner in 
which the female carries her young in cavities, or little 
cells, on her back. The Salamanders (, Salamandra ), 
and Efts ( Triton ), follow the Toads: amongst them 
are the European species, absurdly supposed formerly, 
to be insensible to the action of fire; also several Ame¬ 
rican species, as the Amphiuma, which is thought never 
to have any gills, though it probably loses them at a 
very early age. At the end of these are placed the 
curious animals which Dr. Shaw called Dubious Am¬ 
phibia, appearing to unite the amphibia with the fishes, 
and accordingly they have been placed in both classes 
by various authors. These animals retain their gills 
during the whole of their life, and are therefore capable 
of living equally well on land or in water; amongst 
these are the Axolotl of the Mexicans, which in all re¬ 
spects resembles the larva of the Common Eft (the Me - 
nobrcinchus) from America, and the Proteus from the 
caverns of Carniola, an animal that never voluntarily 
approaches the light of day, and whose eyes are so ex¬ 
cessively small, and hidden by the skin, as to make it 
appear to be absolutely destitute of those organs. A 
wax model, from a living healthy specimen of this 
animal, is placed near it, to shew the form of its lungs 
when not contracted by spirits. In this Case also is the 
Carolina 
