seem brighter than the aquatic. Toads usually tend more to a life on land 
but, as will be seen, some are almost totally aquatic. Though there are 
not many age records of these amphibians, some European toads are known 
to have lived thirty-six years in captivity. 
Both toads and frogs are renowned for their leaping ability, a fact 
well established in Mark Twain’s tale of The Jumping Frog. They have 
the exceptional advantage of being able to breathe with their lungs while 
above water and through their scaleless skin when below. 
The families of this order include the primitive toads of the north¬ 
western United States and New Zealand, and the related Old World primi¬ 
tive bell-toads found in Europe, Eurasia and the Philippines; the tongue- 
less toads of tropical Africa and northern South America; the spade-foot 
loads known principally from North America although found in many 
other regions, and the related forest frogs of the East Indies, southeastern 
Asia and the Seychelles; the true toads of almost world-wide distribution; 
the tree frogs, neotropical toads and their semi-aquatic relatives all found 
in the American tropics except for one African hylid; the typical frogs 
which include Rana of the New World although this family is more widely 
represented by the tropical tree frogs of the Eastern Hemisphere; and the 
closely related toads of the Indo-Australian and Malagasy regions. In all, 
some sixteen hundred species of the foregoing families are known. 
Because of the great number of families and species of toads and 
frogs it would he manifestly impossible to recount the life history and habits 
of all members of the order. Therefore only the most representative and 
interesting will be treated in the pages to follow. However, these have so 
many closely related species, with similar characteristics, that the neces¬ 
sary limits are not as severe as they might at first seem. 
PRIMITIVE TOADS 
FIRE-BELLIED TOAD 
The small fire-bellied toad has little to fear although the puny creature's 
only weapon is its brightly colored undersurface. The red belly 
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seems 
