WORM-LIKE 
AMPHIBIANS 
(COECILIANS) 
A Chern. Cartographer 
MOTHER GUARDING EGGS 
EMBR'iO COILED OVER YOLK SAC 
FULLY DEVELOPED EMBRYO 
^ ATLANTIC 
PACIFIC 
PACIFIC 
SOUTH^M 
^AMERICA/ OCEAN 
OCEAN 
7 OCEAN 
OCEAN 
|HATCHED AREA DENOTES APPROXIMATE DISTRIBUTION] 
COECILIANS 
LIFE CYCLE OF A 
WORM-LIKE AMPHIBIAN 
Worm-like and limbless, the fifty species of coecilians comprise what is 
certainly the most secretive and least known of the amphibian dynasty. 
Indeed, not one of these fifty species has a popular name. They owe their 
esoteric life to their small size and burrowing habits. Coecilians are dis- 
209 
