BRITISH REPTILES. 
 
 C.C.HOPLEY 
 
 ONE SHILLING 
 

BRITISH NEWTS. 
 
 [Frontispiece. 
 
goung Collector 
 
 BRITISH REPTILES 
 
 BATRACHIANS. 
 
 CATHERINE C. HOPLEjY, 
 
 Author of " Curiosities and Wonders of Serpent Life," 
 " Aunt Jenny 's American Pets" etc., etc. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 SWAN SONNENSCHEIN, LOWREY, & CO., 
 PATERNOSTER SQUARE. 
 
 1888. 
 
SiOLOGt 
 LIBRARY 
 
 Uniform with this Volume. Price Is. each 
 (post free, 1s. 2d.). 
 
 1. BUTTERFLIES, MOTHS, AND BEETLES. 
 
 By W. F. KIRBY. 
 
 2. CRUSTACEANS AND SPIDERS. By 
 
 F. A. A. SKUSE. 
 
 3. FUNGI, LICHENS, ETC. By PETER GRAY. 
 
 4. MOSSES. By JAMES E. BAGNALL. 
 
 5. POND-LIFE. By E. A. BUTLER. 
 
 6. SEAWEEDS, SHELLS, AND FOSSILS. By 
 
 PETER GRAY and B. B. WOODWARD. 
 
 7. ANTS, BEES, WASPS, AND DRAGON- 
 
 FLIES. By W. HARCOURT-BATH. 
 
 8. SILKWORMS. By E. A. BUTLER. 
 
 9. BRITISH BIRDS. By R. BOWDLER SHARP and 
 
 W. HARCOURT-BATH< 
 
 10. REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. By 
 
 CATHERINE C. HOPLEY. 
 
 11. LAND AND FRESH WATER SHELLS. 
 
 By Dr. W. WILLIAMS. {Shortly. 
 
 12. FISHES. By F. A. A. SKUSE. [Shortly. 
 
 13. MAMMALIA. By F. A. A. SKUSE. [Shortly. 
 
 Extra Series. 
 
 14. COINS AND TOKENS (English). By L. 
 
 JEWITT. 
 
 LONDON : SWAN SONNENSCHEIN, LOWREY, & Co. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 REPTILES GENERALLY 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE OPHIDIA . 2I 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE VIPER 29 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE RING SNAKE 34 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE SMOOTH SNAKE, . . 3 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE AMPHIBIANS 4 1 
 
 454817 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE COMMON FROG . . 43 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 THE EDIBLE FROG 58 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 THE COMMON TOAD 6 1 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE NATTER-JACK 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE NEWTS \ 70 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE SAURIANS gl 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ANGUIS FRAGILIS 85 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE LIZARDS . . . . . . . .89 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THIS little book differs in several notable particulars from most 
 of those of the " Young Collector " series that have already 
 appeared. First, the creatures herein described are living pets, 
 the occupants of the Vivarium and not the Cabinet. Next they 
 are few ; the intention of these volumes being to treat of British 
 species only, and Britain has but few reptiles. Thirdly, though 
 still comparatively small creatures, they belong to the important 
 group of Vertebrata or back-boned animals. 
 
 Those of our young collectors who have already possessed 
 themselves of Kirby's, Butler's, Woodward's, and Skuse's contri- 
 butions to this series, will have observed that the Insects, Shell- 
 fish, and Crustaceans treated of are boneless ; and that, compared 
 with the rest of the animal kingdom, all are very small creatures. 
 It is worthy of note that out of the seven sub-kingdoms in which 
 zoologists have generally arranged the inhabitants of the globe, 
 six are composed entirely of these small, boneless creatures, while 
 the one remaining sub-kingdom, animals with a bony skeleton, 
 the Vertebrata^ embraces the largest and the most important 
 groups, including man. Persons who have acquired the habit 
 of observing nature those particularly who incline to the study 
 of animated nature cannot fail to be impressed by its teeming 
 life in myriad forms. Even in a city during the summer, birds 
 and insects are abundant ; and we have only to place some pond 
 weed in a glass bowl of water, and a world of life will soon inhabit 
 it. Should our home be in rural districts, and our inclination 
 lead us to study the denizens of trees, streams, or meadows, we' 
 become fairly puzzled as to which class of beings to choose and 
 where to begin. Within a square foot of soil on the bank where 
 we rest we may, with an ordinary magnifier, see more living 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 creatures ibar. v^e cr.n count. Let us stoop over a brook or a 
 rain-pool on a warm, sunny day, and again we shall find it im- 
 possible to calculate the number and variety of minute objects 
 that in diverse movements are flitting, darting, swimming, in an 
 independent existence. The more powerful our magnifying glass 
 the more bewildering are the wondrous forms of microscopic 
 creatures revealed to us. At the seaside, on the surface of the 
 waves, and in the depths of the ocean, living forms are not less 
 numerous. By this we can understand how it is that while our 
 great naturalists have arranged all known animals under say 
 seven grand divisions, six out of the seven embrace only small, 
 boneless, and, to a great extent, microscopic beings. 
 
 Included among the largest of these boneless creatures are our 
 familiar acquaintances of the garden and the shore, worms, slugs, 
 spiders, beetles, butterflies, all insects, in fact snails, centipedes, 
 crabs, lobsters, star-fishes, jelly-fishes, sea anemones, and many 
 others that will occur to the memory as being boneless and blood- 
 less. By " bloodless," not having red blood is to be understood ; 
 and as it happens that all animals with a bony frame possess red 
 blood, Aristotle divided the animal kingdom into two great groups, 
 " those with blood and those without blood." 
 
 But the fluid circulating through the bodies of insects, worms, 
 shell-fish, etc., though nearly colourless, answers to the blood of 
 quadrupeds, and is so spoken of by physiologists ; therefore we 
 may dismiss any reference to the fluids of the body, and retain 
 the distinction of bones and no bones correctly speaking, Verte- 
 brate and Invertebrate animals as the most explicit and com- 
 prehensive mode of separating the two great groups. All animals 
 with a bony skeleton, whether seal, fish, frog, or elephant, being 
 formed on a similar plan, of which the solid structure, the back- 
 bone, is the chief support ; and this backbone being composed 
 of a number of small bones vertebra (see skeletons, pp. 26, 82) 
 compactly jointed together, the term Vertebrate has been chosen to 
 designate them. Excepting serpents and some of their allies ver- 
 tebrate animals have four limbs, but never more than four. In the 
 seal these four limbs are paddles ; in the fish they are its two pairs 
 of principal fins, the pectoral and ventral fins ; in the bird the two 
 fore limbs become wings ; in ourselves arms ; in the frog and the 
 elephant they are four legs. We are apt to speak of four-footed 
 animals as " quadrupeds," in distinction to bipeds, but while frogs, 
 newts, and lizards have each four legs we do not associate them 
 with quadrupeds ; though Aristotle did call them " Oviparous, or egg- 
 laying quadrupeds." The great Cuvier divided the egg-producing 
 animals into birds, insects, and reptiles ; the latter including 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 serpents, lizards, turtles, crocodiles, and frogs; and, like Aristotle, 
 he called the four latter "oviparous quadrupeds." Linnaeus called 
 all reptiles " Amphibious animals," but the study of the frog 
 family, and the fact that they begin life like a fish, breathing through 
 gills, has caused them to be separated from the class Reptilia 
 and formed into a distinct class, the Batrachia, from ySara^os, a 
 frog. They include a great many species in different parts of the 
 world, while those at home are confined to frogs, toads, and their 
 relatives the newts. Batrachians are true Amphibians, living alter- 
 nately both in water and on land. 
 
 It is quite worth the attention of students to compare the 
 progressive systems of some of our best-known naturalists. A 
 general comprehension of the animal kingdom may be thus 
 obtained; and a knowledge of the terms most frequently employed 
 will be of use in whichever branch he desires to study. 
 
 Aristotle divided living beings into eight groups ; viz. 
 
 THOSE WITH BLOOD. 
 
 i. Viviparous four-footed animals; 2. Birds; 3. Oviparous 
 four-footed animals ; 4. Fishes. 
 
 THOSE WITHOUT BLOOD. 
 
 5. Soft animals (Cephalopods, etc.) ; 6. Soft animals with 
 shells (Mollusca) ; 7. Insects ; 8. Shelled animals 
 (echini, snails, and mussels, etc.). 
 
 For a long while, in classifying "reptiles" and insects much 
 confusion prevailed. The latter were "serpentes " because they 
 creep ; while the former were sometimes called " insects," because 
 they lay eggs. It is not uncommon even now for the uneducated 
 to speak of small reptiles as " insects." 
 
 Regarding classification Cuvier wrote u It will be found that 
 there exist four principal forms, four general plans on which all 
 animals seem to have been modelled ; " viz. 
 
 i. Animalia vertebrata ; 2. Animalia mollusca ; 3. Animalia 
 articulata ; 4. Animalia radiata. 
 
 The last named is designated by Owen " a chaotic group," and 
 by Huxley a " radiate mob ;" but even now, as the microscope 
 reveals fresh organisms and unsuspected relationships, zoologists- 
 differ in the arrangement of these sub-kingdoms. It must not 
 be thought, therefore, that in criticising the classifications of those 
 great men who may be termed the Fathers of Zoology, any slur is 
 cast upon their work. In the labour of their lives they achieved 
 results which have been starting-points for their successors.. 
 
10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Biology, comparative anatomy, embryology, paleontology, che- 
 mistry, and microscopy now help to throw light on the great work 
 of Zoology. To one or other of these branches scientific men of 
 the world are devoting themselves, and especially to the study of 
 Cuvier's "Radiate mob," in which debate is still active and 
 decision uncertain. 
 
 In comparing the following tables, it will be seen that for the 
 very lowest forms the name Protozoa (first animal) is generally 
 -accepted. So, also, is Mollusca for shell-fish, the word having 
 been retained ever since Aristotle, who thus distinguished the 
 group. Darwin describes the Protozoa as " animals composed of 
 gelatinous material, showing scarcely any traces of distinct organs." 
 " Uni-cellular animals," Dallas calls them, " in which the functions 
 of life are performed by its simplest element, the cell." They 
 are mostly microscopic. The Protozoa are sometimes placed 
 first, sometimes last in the arrangement of " Types," " Divisions," 
 or " Groups,' 7 which words seem to be displacing the old-fashioned 
 and somewhat unmeaning term " Kingdoms." The later and 
 more intelligent arrangement is to begin with the lowest forms, 
 the mere specks of protoplasm, and work upwards through the 
 more complex organisms to the Vertebrata. Dallas, in The 
 Natural History of the Animal Kingdom (1856), was, I believe, 
 the first English naturalist who introduced this rational method. 
 His divisions were then five, viz. 
 
 1. PROTOZOA. Composed of a simple cell, or an aggregation of cells. 
 
 2. RADIATA. With parts arranged round a common centre. 
 
 3. ARTICULATA. Including an immense diversity of forms, vermes, 
 
 insecta, Crustacea, etc., etc. 
 
 4. MOLLUSCA. Shell-fish and cephalopods. 
 
 5. VERTEBRATA. 
 
 Huxley, in his Classification of Animals (1869), wrote: " It 
 seems to me that the whole animal kingdom cannot be divided 
 into fewer than eight primary groups, no two of which are sus- 
 ceptible, in the present state of knowledge, of being defined by 
 characters which shall be at once common and diagnostic." He 
 arranges them thus, 
 
 VERTEBRATA. 
 
 MOLLUSCA. ANNULOS.E. 
 
 MOLLUSCOID^:. ANNULOID^E. 
 
 COZLENTERATA. INFUSORIA. 
 
 PROTOZOA. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 1 1 
 
 Mivart, in his introductory pages to The Common Frog, 
 (1874), gives seven great groups, " each of which is characterised 
 and defined by certain points of structure possessed by the 
 animals which compose it, and which serve to distinguish them." 
 
 1. ANNULOSA. With bodies composed of a series of segments or rings, 
 
 placed one behind the other, as in earth-worms, centipedes, wood- 
 lice, all insects, lobsters, crabs, scorpions, spiders, and leeches. 
 
 2. MOLLUSCA. Snails, slugs, cuttle-fish, and shell-fish. 
 
 3. MOLLUSCOID^. Sea-squirts or Ascidians (sometimes called Tunicates), 
 
 and lamp shells, together with minute aquatic animals in compound 
 aggregations. 
 
 4. ANNULOID^E. Star-fishes, sea-urchins, together with internal parasites 
 
 (tape-worms, etc.), and their allies. 
 
 5. CCELENTERATA. Sea anemones, jelly-fish, polypes, and the coral 
 
 animals. 
 
 6. PROTOZOA. Sponges, the Infusoria, and all the lower forms of animal 
 
 life. 
 
 7. VERTEBRATA. 
 
 Dr. Henry Alleyne Nicholson, in his popular Manual of 
 Zoology (1878), gives six types or plans of structure, technically 
 known as " Sub-kingdoms," viz. 
 
 i. PROTOZOA; 2. CCELENTERATA; 3. ANNULOID^:; 4. 
 LOSA ; 5. MOLLUSCA ; 6. VERTEBRATA. 
 
 ANNU- 
 
 CasselFs Natural History (1881), edited by Prof. Martin 
 Duncan, is also a popular work. His sub-divisions of the Inver- 
 tebrata are six, differing somewhat from those given above, viz. 
 
 i. MOLLUSCA; 2. ARTHROPODA; 3. VERMES ; 4. ECHINO- 
 DERMATA; 5. ZOOPHYTA; 6. PROTOZOA; with two 
 intermediate groups, MOLLUSCOID.E and TUNICATA. 
 
 There has lately (1884) been translated into English an important 
 work, The Text-Book of Zoology^ by C. Glaus, of the University 
 of Vienna. He says : " In the present state of science we 
 consider it convenient to distinguish nine types as the chief 
 divisions, and to characterise them as follows, 
 
 1. PROTOZOA. Minute, and without cellular organs. 
 
 2. CCELENTERATA. Radiate animals segmented into 2, 4, or 6, with a 
 
 central body cavity. 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 3. ECHINODERMATA. (Spiny skin) radiating in mostly 5 directions, with 
 
 a calcareous dermal skeleton. 
 
 4. VERMES. Bilateral, without jointed appendages. 
 
 5. ARTHROPODA. Bilateral, with jointed appendages. 
 
 6. MOLLUSCOID/E. Bilateral, unsegmentecl animals, with tentacles or 
 
 spirally rolled buccal arms. 
 
 7. MOLLUSCA. Bilateral, soft, unsegmentecl, without a skeleton for 
 
 locomotion ; either bivalve or monovalve. 
 
 8. TUNICATA. Bilateral, unsegmented animals, with sac-shaped or 
 
 barrel-shaped bodies. 
 
 9. VERTEBRATA. 
 
 In the latest important work, The Standard Natural History 
 (1885), in six large volumes, by the leading American biologists, all 
 the great naturalists of the day have been compared and are 
 quoted. In it are given nine Divisions or Branches, with a 
 prospective tenth, the PROTISTA, those very primitive forms in 
 which animal and vegetable life are so blended that it is scarcely 
 possible to distinguish the one from the other. 
 
 Branch I. PROTOZOA. 
 
 ,, II. PORIFERATA. Sponges. 
 
 ,, III. CCELENTERATA. Jelly-fish and corals, hydroids, or plant-like 
 animals of beautiful forms (Zoophytes). 
 
 ,, IV. ECHINODERMATA. Star-fishes, etc. 
 
 ,, V. VERMES. Of which the annelidcc are the highest type ; seg- 
 mented or jointed w T orms and leeches. 
 
 , , VI.'MoLLUSCOlD^E. Including Polyzoa (many animals in colonies) 
 somewhat plant-like, and often mistaken for seaweeds. 
 
 VII. MOLLUSCA. Shell-fish, etc. 
 
 ,, VIII. ARTHROPODA. Jointed legs or " foot-stalks." Insects, and 
 the Crustacea. 
 
 ,, IX. VERTEBRATA. 
 
 The foregoing tables show us that later scientific research has 
 led to sub-divisions of certain types or groups, so that Cuvier's 
 four have been more than doubled. For example, Insects and 
 Crustacea (with jointed limbs) are separated from the worms and 
 leeches ; and instead of being only a class of the extensive sub- 
 kingdom ANNULOSA are now the " Branch " or Sub-Kingdom 
 ARTHROPODA. Having, however, the " ringed, " "jointed/' or 
 '' segmented " bodies as well as appendages, they are, as Kirby 
 tells us in his Introduction to British Butterflies, " called variously 
 Arthropoda, Annidosa, or Articulata y" the latter word having 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 reference to the jointed bodies in opposition to the bony articula- 
 tions of the VERTEBRATA. 
 
 Again, regarding the little animals, the " Pets " of these 
 pages they formerly belonged to the class Reptilia^ of which 
 Batrachia, Sauria, Ophidia, Chelonia^ were four orders. But 
 now, as already explained, BATRACHIA is a class by itself, of 
 which Frogs and Newts are two orders, Anoura (without tails) 
 and Vrodela (with long tails), or, as our latest authority, Boulenger, 
 distinguishes them, Ecaudata and Caudata. 
 
 And it is quite possible that renewed studies of the Reptilia 
 may lead to still farther divisions of Groups ; because, since the 
 publication of any of the works above quoted, a very remarkable 
 discovery has been made in some members of the lizard tribe 
 no less than the existence of a third eye near the top of the head, 
 and directed skywards. Anguis fragilis, our English slow-worm, 
 is one of the lizards in which vestiges of this surprising organ 
 have been detected, and which will be further described in its 
 place. 
 
 And this discovery is said to have been brought about through 
 the study of some small marine creatures which have not even a 
 head ! They are Acephalous molluscs, commonly known as " sea- 
 squirts," but scientifically Tunicates, or Asridians, the former word 
 implying a tunic-like covering, and the latter their form, which is 
 
 Fig i. (Half natural size) , incurrent 
 aperture ; b, excurrent aperture. 
 
 Fig 2. 
 
 something like a leather sac or bottle (fig. i). Just now I spoke 
 of the microscope revealing new organisms and unexpected relation- 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ships, and here is a case in point. These Tunicates, belonging 
 to the division or sub-kingdom MOLLUSCOID.E, were for a time 
 regarded as zoophytes, some of them sociably living, several in a 
 colony, like buds on a stem, and even fixed to one spot (fig. 2). 
 
 Though in their adult state they possess but slight indications 
 of sensibility, they have a heart, respiratory organs, and some of 
 them a single eye in the middle of their transparent body ; but in 
 external form they have no resemblance whatever to a vertebrated 
 animal. Some features in their early development, however, give 
 promise of better things. They are at first free-swimming tad- 
 poles, with an indication of backbone ; and when we come to 
 talk about the frog we will give another glance at these Tunicates, 
 which just now appear to be exciting much interest among biolo- 
 gists. A very large collection of them, brought home in the 
 Challenger, after the voyage of 1872-76, has been lately arranged 
 in 102 species, and described for the first time by Prof. Herdman 
 (1886), stimulating researches in various other classes of verte- 
 brates. Not even yet, though specialists have been hard at work 
 in their various branches, are the results of the Challenger expe- 
 dition fully known. Each year new species of minute organisms 
 are described and announced ; almost daily is new light thrown 
 on hitherto doubtful biological questions ; and thus it is that 
 new classifications and additional Sub-kingdoms are so frequently 
 established. 
 
 It has been in order to convey some insight into the intricacies 
 of zoological science, and to introduce the three-eyed lizards, that 
 I have dwelt somewhat on the Invertebrated groups. And there 
 remain a few words still to be added concerning embryology ; the 
 structure of the embryo, or immature animal, being, in the eyes 
 of most living biologists, even more important for classification 
 than that of the adult. Darwin affirmed it to be " one of the most 
 important subjects in the whole round of natural history," 
 because there is a law in embryonic development that to quote 
 Darwin again " various parts in the same individual which are 
 exactly alike in the embryonic period, become widely different, 
 and serve for widely different purposes, in the adult state." And 
 it is the early development that indicates the adult relationship, 
 whether to bird, mammal, or fish. This will be evident when, 
 as one of the examples of development, we come to compare the 
 Tunicate tadpole with that of the frog. The eggs of frogs and 
 newts being transparent, the development can be watched from 
 day to day, almost hourly, indeed, in a favourable temperature. 
 And in the whole range of natural history there can scarcely be a 
 more interesting and engrossing study than to contemplate the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 1 J 
 
 gradual transformation of an egg into a tadpole. As far as a 
 certain stage the process or progress is the same in all eggs, 
 whether of birds, fishes, or reptiles; but we will reserve the 
 examination of the frog embryos for the present. Enough has 
 been said in this already lengthened Introduction to the Verte- 
 brates. 
 
REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 REPTILES GENERALLY. 
 
 THERE are certain characteristics which belong alike to the whole 
 of the class Reptilia, and for the present we may include the 
 Batrachia. All are cold-blooded ; that is, they have not sufficient 
 warmth in themselves to maintain a given bodily heat under 
 adverse circumstances. In popular words, they are " obedient to 
 surrounding temperature." Human beings, by the healthy cir- 
 culation of the blood, and independent of external changes, main- 
 tain a temperature of about 98, which is called " blood heat." 
 We suffer discomfort from cold when the degree is much below 
 this ; and we suffer from a feverish condition when the blood is 
 much over-heated ; but reptiles, notwithstanding inability to 
 maintain such bodily warmth, suffer neither from excessive cold 
 nor extreme heat. In the latter case they are in greater vigour, 
 more alive, in fact ; and in the former condition they succumb 
 even to the verge of death without suffering. In winter, burying 
 themselves in the cold damp soil, their vitality is at its lowest, 
 some have been known to be actually imbedded in ice and yet 
 revive by a gradual thaw, and this for successive winters. I have 
 heard of snakes being found frozen and as brittle as a dry stick, 
 but recovering by gradual warmth. 
 
 On the contrary, in the summer many of them endure tropical 
 heat, and lie basking under a sun, similar exposure to whose rays 
 would destroy the life of some animals. 
 
 In hot countries the regularly recurring period of torpor is 
 aestivation, when many reptiles bury themselves in the mud, and 
 are literally baked up in a temporary tomb. In cooler countries 
 the hibernation is on the approach of cold weather. The total 
 
REPTILES GENERALLY. I/ 
 
 suspension of vital forces is something like what vegetation under- 
 goes. Circulation and respiration are arrested, and in many cases 
 it is difficult to decide whether life is extinct or not ; but with 
 the return of spring the sun causes the juices whether animal or 
 vegetable to flow once more, and the whole system is set in 
 working order again. Reptiles belong only to the tropical and 
 temperate climates. In the frigid zones they do not exist. The 
 suspension of animation during winter in the cooler latitudes is a 
 beneficent law of nature ; for the food on which the smaller 
 reptiles usually subsist is also gone, and they conveniently hiber- 
 nate until insect life revives. Reptiles are long-lived ; but as 
 they sleep so many months at a time, and exhaust themselves so 
 little, even during their liveliest seasons, there seems no reason 
 why life should not be prolonged. 
 
 The circulation of reptiles is less complete than that of birds 
 and mammals, the blood being only partially aerated; mingled 
 arterial and venous blood is sent to the lungs and through the 
 system, no part of which is supplied with pure arterialised blood. 
 The heart in general is formed of at most three cavities instead of 
 four, two auricles and one ventricle ; the latter receiving the 
 blood from the two former, i.e., venous blood from the system 
 and aerated blood from the lungs, producing what we should call 
 poor blood, having fewer of the red corpuscles, and, in the animal, 
 a consequent sluggishness of movement, insensibility, and slow 
 organic functions. In intelligence reptiles rank only a little above 
 fishes. Their powers of endurance, however, are very great. 
 They can do without food for a long while, and even without 
 air, and do not appear to suffer from an injury which to the 
 higher animals would cause great pain ; as, for instance, the 
 lopping off of a finger, or even a hand, or an inch or so of 
 tail. Imagine the " to do " of a monkey under such cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 All reptiles are oviparous, producing young from an egg, the 
 covering of which may be membranous, leathery, or calcareous. 
 In some cases the young are born alive, but that is only because 
 the eggs have been already hatched within the parent. For the 
 different conditions the terms oviparous, viviparous, and ovovivi- 
 parous are used. All reptiles cast their skin at irregular periods, 
 at least once, but more frequently four or five times during the 
 year. This is called sloughing or desquamation ; the latter 
 word, as it signifies rather a coming off of the scales, is not always 
 applicable; for unless the creature is in adverse circumstances 
 the slough is cast entire. All the reptiles I have ever watched 
 under favourable conditions cast their coat entire, beginning at 
 
1 8 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 the mouth. In the account of each we shall recur again to this 
 subject. 
 
 In the above particulars all reptiles and batrachians are alike ; 
 but in form and action no single class of animals are less alike. 
 To compare one with another and the various orders some with 
 four legs, some with two legs, or no legs, with a tail and without, 
 some covered with a hard, solid case, others with strong plates, 
 some with scales, and some with only a soft, smooth, and ex- 
 ceedingly sensitive skin, some with a spine reduced to a few 
 joints, while in others it is extended to three or four hundred 
 vertebra ; some with eyelids and others without, we should scarcely 
 pronounce them all of a class, and yet their internal organism is 
 alike in all. Their movements are as varied as their form. 
 Among them some fly, others creep, crawl, or glide. A frog 
 " hops," leaps really, and with wonderful skill and precision, 
 and swims in the true scientific manner ; a tortoise creeps, and 
 to save its life it can only creep, therefore never attempting escape 
 in peril, it retires within its fortress, and is there safe. There are 
 frogs and lizards that live in trees and can fly, but not with wings. 
 
 Fig. 3. Flying Frog. 
 
 The frog (fig. 3) has exceedingly long fingers and toes, with a strong 
 membrane between each, so that when outspread they are like 
 four fans, each covering some considerable space, and enabling it 
 to take leaps from branch to branch, or to let itself down to the 
 ground and up again supported by these four fans, like parachutes, 
 to break its fall. The little flying lizard, Draco volans (fig. 4), is 
 similarly sustained in its leaps, but by five or six of its middle ribs, 
 
REPTILES GENERALLY. 
 
 which are extremely elongated, 
 and covered with the extended 
 skin of its sides. 
 
 The most active among rep- 
 tiles, and possessing the most 
 varied movements, are lizards 
 and snakes, which latter, strange 
 to say, though without legs, wings, 
 fins, or any other appendages to 
 assist locomotion, can do all and 
 much more than all the rest can 
 do. They can even let themselves 
 down from a tree, or spring from 
 branch to branch as easily as the 
 flying frogs and lizards, swinging 
 like an acrobat, springing, leaping, 
 and climbing like a monkey, and 
 when on the ground vanishing 
 like a flash in their swift gliding. 
 Without hands the constricting 
 snakes can grasp their prey with 
 the coils of their body ; without 
 fins they can swim like a fish \ 
 and they can even do two or 
 three things at once through the 
 wonderful adaptation of their 
 spine to meet emergencies. It 
 is the peculiar construction of 
 the spine which enables them 
 to accomplish all this. Owen, 
 Huxley, and other distinguished 
 anatomists write enthusiastically 
 of the beautiful adaptation of a 
 snake's spine to its needs. Each 
 vertebra is elaborately articulated to the next and to the ribs by 
 eight joints ; and each interlocks 
 with the one next to it by a cup and 
 ball-shaped process. Here (fig. 5) 
 you see a front and a back view 
 of one single vertebra, and cm 
 imagine the pliancy of movement 
 all these cup and ball arrange- 
 
 , , . , a, posterior view. 
 
 ments would give to a long spine, 
 
 and why they are justly called vertebra, from verto, to turn. The 
 
 Fig. 4. Flying Lizard. 
 
 6, anterior view. 
 
20 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 above achievements relate more particularly to the constricting 
 snakes. Our British species are similarly endowed, if in a less 
 degree. 
 
 Reptiles are, for the most part, carnivorous ; a few are"vegetable 
 or fruit- eaters, and some are both. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 i 
 
 THE OPHIDIA. 
 
 FIRST let us decide their true place in the great ANIMAL 
 KINGDOM that includes such perplexing myriads to be classified. 
 Snakes having, for their size, more vertebra in their spinal column 
 than any other animals, claim, of course, to be assigned to the 
 sub-kingdom VERTEBRATA. And that they are true reptiles is 
 no less evident, therefore they belong to the CLASS REPTILIA. 
 But here arises a question which formerly caused much difference 
 of opinion, on account of the many creatures of a snake-like form 
 that exist ; such as the little slow-worm, which is still known as 
 anguis, though not a snake. There are also some frogs (as the 
 coecilia\ a few fishes, and many lizards, even some very large 
 worms, all of which are snake-like in form and without limbs. 
 For us of to-day these difficulties have been cleared away, the 
 true snakes have been separated from the rest, and the question, 
 therefore, "What kind or ORDER of reptiles are they?" is 
 answered by ORDER OPHIDIA. Next there come sub-divisions 
 and sub-orders. Snakes are divided into Venomous and Non- 
 venomous, and are arranged in three sub-orders ; viz., Colubrines^ 
 the harmless snakes ; Viperines, the vipers ; and the Venomous 
 Columbrines ; the latter, having the form and aspect of harm- 
 less snakes, though venomous. You may easily discern the 
 great difference between these latter and the vipers on your next 
 visit to the Zoological Gardens, The Cobra and the Ophiophagus 
 are slender and symmetrical, like the harmless Indian river snakes 
 on the opposite side of the Reptilium and our English ring-snake ; 
 and unless you knew them already you would not suppose them 
 to be so deadly. But the African Puff-adder, and the Rattle- 
 snakes, thick, heavy, flat-headed, and rough-scaled, seem to betray 
 their venomous qualities at once. Thus the three sub-divisions 
 are 
 
 1. OPHIDIA COLUBRIFORMES. 
 
 2. OPHIDIA COLUBRIFORMES VENENOSI. 
 
 3. OPHIDIA VIPERIFORMES. 
 
22 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 Two of our English snakes belong to the first and one to the 
 third sub-order. 
 
 There is a prevailing impression among persons who have not 
 given any special attention to snakes or serpents that the two 
 words imply different kinds of reptiles, the latter being often 
 associated with the more formidable and dangerous, and the 
 former with the less harmful kinds. A snake and a serpent are 
 one and the same reptile, the distinction being philological and 
 not zoological. The word " serpent " is from the Latin serpo, to 
 creep, and this from the Greek ep7ro>. Serpo or Jterpo had 
 reference to the creeping movements, and was applied to' crawling 
 creatures generally. So also was the Saxon word " snake," from 
 snaca, used for all the small reptiles of northern Europe. The 
 two words belong to the history of Great Britain. "Serpent" having 
 been introduced by the Romans became incorporated with the 
 language of the country long before the northern invaders made 
 their appearance here. From the Romans came tales of 
 enormous and fearful serpents ; and when the Scandinavians 
 arrived and talked of their snakes, the word would represent only 
 the smaller reptiles peculiar to the north. The truly English, or 
 rather British word, " snake," came easily from all or any of the 
 words expressing the same in the language of our northern 
 visitors ; the Danes, with their snog or snekke, the Anglo-Saxon 
 snaca, the Swedish snok y and the Icelandic snakr^ snokr, all 
 implied small creeping things, and would naturally represent the 
 same in Britain. 
 
 The Greek word for a snake exclusively was ophis> from o<is, 
 whence we obtain the scientific word which heads this chapter, 
 also ophiology, ophidian, etc. ; while the word serpo, erpo, or 
 herpo, gives its name to the science of reptiles generally, Herpeto- 
 logy, with Herpetologist, or Erpetologist, etc. For a true snake 
 the Latin is anguis and coluber, the former signifying the strangling, 
 constricting habits, the latter the coiling, winding movements. 
 
 One or two other ideas now, I trust, fast being discarded 
 are that snakes are " slimy," and that their tongue is an instru- 
 ment of injury; and yet, notwithstanding its extremely slender 
 and hair-like tips, that it is used (as some old writers have 
 represented) to lick a large, rough-coated animal all over before 
 it is swallowed ; a task in comparison with which that of Sisyphus 
 would be easy ; the said lubrication being about as practicable as 
 to lay the dust of London with a watering-pot. The reputed 
 " sliminess " probably originated in the sliding, gliding, noiseless 
 movements of snakes, and which may convey an idea of 
 slipperiness, particularly in the smooth-scaled kinds ; but which, 
 
THE OPHIDIA. 23 
 
 however, are, in common with the rest, perfectly dry and clean. 
 The tongue of a snake acts as a feeler, an instrument of touch 
 and of investigation, particularly in the dark, conveying informa- 
 tion of surroundings so to speak to the owner of the delicate 
 organ. It is formed of a double muscle, or pair of muscles 
 united from the root to near the tip, where they divide, and 
 terminate in those slender, hair-like filaments which are so alarm- 
 ing to the ignorant. The illustrations (fig. 6) are from nature and 
 the exact size. The largest (a) is that of a Jamaica boa; the 
 small slender tongue (b} is that of a South-American snake some- 
 what smaller than our English ring-snake ; and the shortest (c) is 
 that of a very young African viper, a short and stout little reptile 
 
 Fig. 6. Illustration of tongues. From nature by the Author. 
 
 that has imparted this character to its tongue. The tongue of the 
 British viper would be slender and larger than b. Being so 
 delicately constructed and liable to injury, it is provided with a 
 sheath, which lies along the rnouth, and the aperture to which is 
 forward, about where the tip of the tongue in the mouths of other 
 animals is when at -rest. The snake has no necessity to open its 
 mouth to use this tongue which is in such constant requisition ; a 
 tiny aperture in the upper lip, " a chink in the rostral shield " 
 permits its exsertion and the free play of the sensitive tips. 
 
 Another remarkable peculiarity in snakes is a volitional action 
 of the trachea or windpipe, which can be brought forward beyond 
 the mouth. Though snakes can do for a considerable time without 
 breathing, there are occasions when they require to take fresh 
 breath when it would be impossible to do so; as, for instance, while 
 feeding, when the mouth and throat are completely gorged with 
 their prey. In this case the adjustable windpipe advances, and 
 may sometimes be seen hanging an inch or so out of the mouth, 
 and having at its extremity a sort of lip or valve, very flexible, 
 and opening or closing as the air is drawn in or expelled. This 
 trachea, or air-tube, being also a very delicate organ, and 
 liable to injury through the intrusion of dust, or of particles of 
 fluff, etc., from the prey which is being swallowed, can be opened 
 or closed at will by this mobile valve at its entrance. The 
 anterior portion of the trachea lies along the mouth when at rest, 
 
2 4 
 
 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 and in a sheath. The aperture is then exactly opposite, and 
 close to, the nostrils, through which only a snake breathes. 
 Should you happen to see one yawning, which it not unfrequently 
 does, you will be able to observe the two apertures, and probably 
 both in action ; that for the egress of the tongue, close to the 
 chink in the lip for its exsertion, and that of the windpipe just 
 behind and upon the tongue sheath. 
 
 The elongated form of snakes causes corresponding variations 
 in their principal organs. One lung (the other is only rudiment- 
 ary) occupies nearly two-thirds of the body ; the trachea convey- 
 ing air into this is also much lengthened. So are the liver, the 
 oesophagus, and the stomach, etc. There are yet other remark- 
 able modifications in a snake's anatomy, adapting its structure to 
 its habits and requirements. The bones of the head, and 
 particularly those of the lower jaw, are "loose," i.e., united only 
 by elastic ligaments instead of being consolidated as in mammals ; 
 and are thus easily separable, stretching apart, enabling the 
 reptile to swallow food of much greater bulk than itself. Snakes 
 feed seldom, and no wonder, for the process cannot be agreeable. 
 Fortunately for them their sense of taste is dull, as they have no 
 means of freeing their prey from its fur or feathers. Luckily, too, 
 their digestion is powerful, as the prey must be swallowed as it is, 
 bones and all. The constricting snakes can retain an animal in 
 their coils till they are ready to swallow it ; the venomous snakes 
 can kill with the poison fang and wait their time ; but many 
 others, like our two little English snakes, can neither constrict nor 
 poison, but must hold their prey in their mouth when caught and 
 
 Fig. 7. Interior of the roof of the mouth, the upper jaws. Dots represent the teeth. 
 
 not let go for a single instant, or it would escape. The teeth 
 are great assistants, being numerous, very long and fine, and all 
 
THE OPHIDIA. 25 
 
 slanting backwards, so that it is impossible for an animal held by 
 them to retreat. All snakes are furnished with palate teeth, two 
 rows extending backwards and all curved and slanting in the 
 same manner. The upper and lower jaws are also well supplied, 
 so that we may call them six rows of teeth. In a non- venomous 
 snake their position may be represented as in a (fig. 7). In 
 the viper the upper jaw is extremely short, and furnished with 
 only the poison fang (c) ; a cobra and some other venomous 
 colubrines haVe one or two simple teeth in addition to the 
 fangs (fr). All these finely pointed and delicate teeth, having a 
 good deal of strain upon them during the process of feeding 
 (not for mastication, but to retain bulky prey), are liable to 
 get broken off or to come out easily ; but buried in the gum are 
 always a plentiful supply of young teeth ready to replace them. 
 Snakes can renew their teeth throughout life, or until very old 
 age or infirmities overtake them. There was a python of at least 
 thirty years old at the Zoological Gardens who had ceased to 
 renew its teeth. They were by degrees lost and not replaced, and 
 the poor old snake had great difficulty in feeding, but, as a rule, 
 nature has beneficently supplied them with these all-important 
 assistants towards supporting life. 
 
 We have seen that a snake can exsert, withdraw, and safely 
 enclose its tongue ; that its head can expand out of all proportion, 
 and regain its form without inconvenience ; that it can manage 
 its trachea so as to breathe when its mouth and throat are gorged ; 
 and now we shall see that it can move its ribs, every single pair 
 of them, as easily as we can move our arms or fingers. The ribs 
 are elaborately articulated with the spinal column, as described on 
 p. 19, and expand for the reception of bulky food. They are also 
 used as legs, and upon the tips of them the snake walks or glides. In 
 the larger snakes it is not difficult to watch the action, like 
 undulations, beneath the skin. Three or more sets of ribs are in 
 motion at the same time, but in regular and wave-like succession, 
 the "wave" as it were, started with the anterior ribs, passing 
 down through the entire length of the snake, and succeeded by 
 another and then another set, as the first movement passes on ; 
 just as you see a long streamer or a curtain-fringe moved by the 
 wind, wave after wave following in succession, so that you can 
 scarcely define where each undulation begins, all moving on 
 harmoniously. When a serpent is actually progressing, every 
 single pair of ribs is, of course, in action : but should only one 
 part of the hody be stirring, the ribs at that part only may be 
 active. To each pair of ribs one of the broad under scales 
 (ventral scuta) is attached by muscles, so that these also move 
 
26 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 along in turn, like a foot, to its special pair of ribs. Just so many 
 vertebra as a snake has in its spinal column, so many ventral 
 plates or scuta there are ; and by these broad under-scales you 
 can always ascertain how many joints there are in the spinal 
 
 Fig. 8. Skeleton of a snake. 
 
 column. The very long snakes have three or even four hundred 
 vertebra in their spine, smaller snakes perhaps only one hundred 
 and fifty or two hundred. Where the tail begins the ribs of 
 course cease, but the tail bones are reckoned among the ver- 
 tebra. As a general rule vipers have short tails ; and the long, 
 
THE OPHIDIA. 27 
 
 slender, harmless snakes very long tails, tapering so gradually that 
 you cannot readily decide where the tail begins. But there are 
 exceptions. When a snake is about to cast its cuticle you will 
 see it pushing its jaws against the gravel in the cage or whatever 
 rough surface may be there, and turning its head over to rub first 
 one side and then the other and the top. Presently the skin is 
 loosened round the lips, and by continual rubbing and being 
 pushed folds, back, the upper part over the head and the lower 
 over the throat ; and when the head is free no more rubbing is 
 necessary, as the snake has only to crawl, and keep on crawling 
 as it emerges bright and beautiful from the slough. It is as if 
 some one were pulling off your tight coat sleeve beginning at the 
 shoulder, the sleeve turning inside-out as it is drawn down to the 
 wrist, only the person holding your sleeve remains still, while you 
 (like the snake) move away and leave it. The shoulder represents 
 the head of the snake and the wrist the tail. The last few 
 inches of tail generally slip out unreversed. If a snake is in 
 good health and sheds well, the whole process does not occupy 
 many minutes, but if the skin is in an unhealthy condition the 
 snake has more difficulty, or makes no effort, and the cuticle 
 comes off in pieces. A very curious and interesting object is 
 the cast-off coat, showing the imbricated arrangement of the 
 41 scales," so called because externally they have this appearance 
 from the folds in the skin, though unlike the scales of some 
 fishes which come off separately, the snake skin is entire. The 
 eye covering is round and clear, like a miniature watch glass ; 
 snakes not having eyelids can never close their eyes, which are 
 protected by this transparent covering. It is cast with the 
 cuticle ; and if you examine the slough of a snake you will 
 observe that the transparent eye scale is'of a stronger texture than 
 the rest, and set in a framework of small scales ; while on the 
 reverse side it stands out distinct from them in a cup-like form, as 
 here represented (fig. 9). This little drawing, taken from nature, 
 is a trifle exaggerated in order to show the form 
 distinctly. The period of sloughing is irregular, some- 
 times once but more frequently four or five times a 
 year. Snakes are fastidious creatures, and whenever 
 their coat is soiled or uncomfortable they doff it and come out 
 resplendent in a new one, which displays its colours to perfection. 
 The snake, too, feels invigorated, and is ready for dinner, having 
 been somewhat an invalid for several days previously, and hidden 
 in some corner declining food. Young snakes invariably cast their 
 cuticle at a very early day, and very frequently while growing. 
 It only remains to say that the form and position of the head 
 
28 
 
 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 shields are chiefly considered in the classification of snakes, and 
 are of great importance for the distinction of species and genera. 
 Each shield is named according to its position on the head ; as, 
 for example, the upper or lower labials or lip-shields ; rostral, or 
 beak-shields ; nasal, ocular, etc. ; and it is desirable to be 
 acquainted with these distinctions, as they characterise lizards 
 as well. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE VIPER. 
 
 Sub-order 3, VIPERINA ; or, OPHIDIA VIPERIFORMES. Family 
 Viperidce. Genus, Pelias. Species, berus. 
 
 THIS being the only reptile included in these pages that I can 
 scarcely recommend as a pet, and having never harboured it 
 among my own reptilian families, there is not much to tell about 
 it. Its venomous qualities have not gained for it many ardent 
 friends and admirers ; we will therefore discuss it and dismiss it 
 for the more attractive members of the class. 
 
 The sub-order VIPERINA is divided into the two families 
 Viperidtz and Crotalidce. It will assist the memory to observe 
 that while so many of the natural Divisions, Classes, and Orders 
 end with the letter a, the Families invariably terminate in idee. 
 
 The Crotalidce family are not represented in England, but they 
 may be briefly described as most of them having rattles at the ter- 
 mination of the tail, as the rattlesnakes of America, and all of them 
 having a peculiar hollow or "pit " in the face on each side of the 
 nostrils, called by a French ophiologist doubles narines, but the 
 use of which is at present only conjectural. 
 
 Some of the Crotalidcz in America have only incipient rattles 
 like this (fig. n), others have no rattles at all, but in all 
 other respects they agree with the true rattlesnakes. 
 
 The general features of a viper are a broad, 
 angular head, distinct from the body, which is thick 
 and heavy in comparison with the colubrine snakes, 
 a short tail tapering suddenly to a point, and rough or carniated 
 scales (from carina, a keel), having a sort of mid-rib like a leaf 
 or a feather. The head, with but few exceptions, is covered with 
 scales, not plates. The English viper has a few plates, viz., one 
 over each eye, and a small pair in front, sometimes another pair, 
 or a central one; but in the matter of scales members of the 
 same family differ. At the Zoological Gardens you may some- 
 times see several English vipers in one cage, and observe the 
 variation in head-plates, though the plates are never so large ?nd 
 distinct as in the colubrine snakes. 
 
REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 But the chief characteristic of the viper is its poison tooth. 
 "The perfection of mechanism culminates in the viperine fang," 
 writes Dr. Edward Nicholson, a distinguished ophiologist. And 
 by mechanism he refers to its mobility, the action of it. Among 
 the various wonders which we discover in the structure of a snake 
 and its control over parts of its frame that are stationary in other 
 creatures, the power in the viper to raise and fold back its fangs is 
 perhaps the greatest. Vipers, it will be remembered, have only one 
 tooth, the fang, in each upper jaw, and this when at rest lies back 
 along the gum (as in #, fig. 12), and when in use is " erected,'' that 
 is, brought down ready to inflict the bite (as in ), 
 and the action is instantaneous, rapid as is that of 
 the viper in striking its victim. The fang is curved, 
 pointed as a fine needle, and "hollow," commonly 
 so called. Strictly speaking, a snake's fang is a 
 long finely pointed tooth, flattened out and rolled 
 over to form a groove, as seen in the magnified examples (fig. 13). 
 In the viper the " join " as we will call it is so complete as to be 
 
 Fig. 12. 
 
 scarcely percepti- 
 less evident, form- 
 flows. In the lar- 
 open than in b. 
 gland at its root. 
 is a very tiny slit, 
 
 Fig. 13. Two fangs magnified, 
 showing the slit or join more or 
 less complete. e is a section. 
 From Fayrer's Thanatophidia. 
 
 ble, in other snakes the fold is more or 
 ing a channel down which the venom 
 ger example, a, the groove is more 
 At the base the venom enters from a 
 Close to the point in a viper's fang 
 and through this slit the venom is 
 forced out again into the wound by 
 the action of " striking," as the rapid 
 bite is called. All is swift as a flash ; 
 but the noxious power of the venom 
 is so great that in that moment of 
 time enough has passed through the 
 tiny slit into the flesh of the bitten 
 creature to cause its death. The 
 viper then draws back its head, and 
 waits till the victim ceases to struggle, 
 when it again approaches stealthily, 
 cautiously surveys the prey, and if 
 quite dead grasps it conveniently, and 
 proceeds to swallow it. I have seen 
 some vipers never letting go their 
 hold after striking, but swallowing the 
 prey at once. Usually they are 
 extremely cautious, and this from fear, 
 being absurdly cowardly. 
 
 It used to be supposed that the 
 
THE VIPER. 31 
 
 mere action of opening the mouth causes a viper's fangs to 
 descend, and that the closing of the mouth sends them back 
 again. But the voluntary action or control of the fangs is now 
 fully understood, as also their independent action. In watching 
 a viper feed you may see sometimes one fang, or the other, or 
 both in use, as it moves its jaws over the prey, well extending 
 them so as to free the long fang from the flesh it has penetrated. 
 Also when a viper yawns (this yawning affords many a useful 
 lesson) you may often see first one fang and then another brought 
 down and folded back again, proving their independent action. 
 
 The fangs being long, delicate, and loosely hinged, are easily 
 broken off. They also come out if worn or strained, when a 
 new pair is ready to replace them. A cluster of reserve fangs of 
 all sizes lies in the sheath which protects the pair in use when at 
 rest, and are developed as fast as they are required, each in turn 
 becoming fixed and functional. It is customary to speak of the 
 viper's fangs being " brought down or depressed," but in reality it 
 is the very short jaw which rotates, the fang being firmly fixed in 
 it, and owing to the easily separable right and left jaw, united 
 only by a ligament, as already described, it is the two jaws, the 
 right and left, which act independently, bearing the fang with 
 them as they move or rotate. Imagine a pen-knife half opened 
 and held with the blade downwards ; that would represent the 
 fang " erected ; " then hold the handle perpendicularly, and the 
 blade would assume a horizontal position, as shown in fig 12, 
 which would represent the fang at rest ; only that the knife handle 
 is much too long to convey an idea of the mere wedge of bone 
 which forms the viper's upper jaw. 
 
 The venom of Pelias bents is far less virulent than that of the 
 larger vipers, or even one of its own size in the hotter countries. 
 But in an unusually warm season deaths have been known to 
 occur through its bite ; or when the bitten person has been of 
 feeble health, or if the wound has not been treated in time, and 
 the venom has worked into the system. There must be no delay : 
 a handkerchief, or a leathern strap or cord, should be bound very 
 tightly round the limb above the wound, that is, nearer to the body, 
 to check the circulation. Oil or ammonia should be rubbed into 
 the wound, or any soft fat that can be obtained at the nearest 
 cottage ; the oil or fat clogging the blood, and arresting the rapid 
 mingling of the venom with it. The old-fashioned remedy was to 
 cut the viper open and bind that upon the wound, as there is 
 usually a good deal of fat in its body ; but there were fewer 
 habitations at hand in those days. To suck the wound hard and 
 thoroughly and at once is also an excellent plan if the lips and 
 
32 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 gums are sound ; of course freeing the mouth frequently of the 
 saliva. With good courage and prompt remedies the bite of 
 Pelias berus generally causes only some temporary inconvenience. 
 It is as well to be cautious, however, in handling it, and it is 
 important to be prepared to recognise a viper, and not mistake 
 it for a harmless snake. And this is not difficult. Both the other 
 English snakes are smoother and more shiny, particularly the 
 coronella, which is nearest to it in size and colour. The head is 
 flatter and broader than either of the others, wider behind, and 
 excepting the few plates near and above the eyes it is covered 
 with fine scales. It is more slender than vipers generally, and 
 about two and a half feet long, seldom much longer when grown. 
 It has a short blunt tail. By its colours it is most easily recognised, 
 being generally of a dark brownish tint, with a very distinct zig- 
 zag black mark all down its back. On its head a dark mark 
 diverges like a V, and is generally bordered by a much lighter 
 colour, which renders this V pattern very distinct. The dull coat 
 of carinated scales and the short tail also assist recognition. Vipers 
 vary much in colour, from very dark brown and nearly black to 
 reddish tints, and almost " white ; " that is, of a very pale and 
 faded tint. The "red" viper is of a pale brick-dust, or dirty 
 pink tint, with grey or nearly white beneath ; but in them all the 
 black line down the back is discernible. 
 
 Vipers are not found in Ireland, and all experiments to establish 
 them there have failed : but in Scotland they are frequently seen, 
 also in Wales. Pelias berus is also found nearly all over Europe, 
 excepting in the extreme north. It is as common in England to 
 call it " adder " as viper, the former word, like " snake," having been 
 introduced by the Anglo-Saxons, and implying a crawling, creeping, 
 low-lying creature, and formerly applied to other reptiles as well. 
 Nedre, noedre, a nedre gradually becoming an eddre, and then, 
 dropping the article and. the ;z, was corrupted into adder. The 
 word viper, from the Latin vipera, a contraction of vivus, alive, 
 andpario, to bring forth, signifies that it produces its young alive ; 
 so here again, as in snake and serpent, the one name was intro- 
 duced by the Romans, and the other by the Saxons. 
 
 Vipers have the reputation of giving refuge to their young brood 
 by receiving them into their throat and their capacious oesophagus 
 in sudden danger, and presently releasing them again. Many 
 well-authenticated instances of this have been recorded, and by 
 observers of undoubted intelligence and integrity. On the con- 
 trary, some scientific men are slow to credit the fact, and think 
 that the snake was probably making a meal of her progeny when 
 they were seen to enter her mouth. But the prey of snakes do 
 
THE VIPER. 33 
 
 not run helter-skelter, a dozen at a time, down the throat of an 
 enemy; nor do snakes, when feeding, gulp down a number of 
 snakelings at once, but one at a time, and by the action of the 
 jaws moving gradually over the prey. The limited space in these 
 pages will not permit of more on this subject than to state that 
 both among reptiles and fishes are well-known examples of similar 
 parental guardianship, which might be cited ; and that in my 
 larger work on " Snakes " a whole chapter is devoted to the 
 question of this maternal refuge. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE RING SNAK E . 
 
 Sub-order i, OPHIDIA COLUBRIFORMES. Family, Colubrida. 
 Group, Natridda. Genus, Tropidonotus. Species, natrix. 
 
 THIS is the largest of the three British snakes, and is usually 
 between three and four feet long, occasionally attaining five feet 
 or even more. Excepting the little lizard, Zootica vivipara, it is 
 the commonest of our reptiles, and in various localities is known 
 as the " green snake," the " hedge snake,' 7 "water snake," u grass 
 snake," the "ring snake," etc. Compared with the viper it 
 may be called " green," or greenish, but it is rather of an olive- 
 grey, dotted with black down the back, and with a series of 
 confluent spots or short wavy lines on its sides. The abdominal 
 shields are smooth and of a pale yellow, or a greenish-white, 
 mottled with black. The " ring " is a well-defined mark or pair 
 of marks, generally of a golden colour, at the back of the head or 
 'neck," and rendered still more vivid by the contiguous deep 
 black triangular spots behind them. These marks are more 
 ^properly a collar than a "ring," as is evident from its specific 
 torquata, as called by some naturalists. Its generic name 
 Tropidonotus is from the keeled scales on the back (rpaTn,?, T/ooTriSas, 
 a keel ; vo>T09, back, keel-backed), not quite so prominently 
 carinated as in the viper, or to destroy the comparatively smooth 
 surface, yet with the distinct mid-rib or keel. The head is ovate, 
 somewhat depressed, covered with large plates, and distinct from 
 the neck ; the body is long, slender, and tapering gradually from 
 the largest part to the tail, which is about one quarter the length, 
 and with a double row z>i scuta beneath (fig. 14). Its present specific 
 name natrix (in Latin, a water snake) indicates its aquatic pro- 
 pensities. Though not strictly one of the water snakes, which 
 live entirely in rivers and streams, it is never far from water, swims 
 with ease, and has been seen a considerable distance from land. 
 
THE RING SNAKE. 35 
 
 Its favourite food is frogs, which it catches with ease, being, like 
 all the colubrines, a swiftly gliding, active snake. It will also eat 
 young birds or field mice, and for lack of frogs will sometimes take 
 a toad for supper, but not by preference. 
 
 The ring snake has fewer synonyms than most of its relatives, 
 and all apply well to its characteristics. Thus it is the Coluber 
 natrix of one herpetologist, the Natrix torquata of another, while 
 a third considers the collar a generic distinction, and calls it 
 Torquata natrix ; and by the latest ophiologists the keeled scales 
 mark the genus, and it becomes Tropidonotus natrix. 
 
 As a pet it is the most popular of our English snakes. Accounts 
 of its behaviour in captivity, its tameness, its attachment to those 
 who feed and caress it, its coming to drink what water or milk is 
 placed in a saucer near it, with numerous anecdotes of its docility 
 and intelligence, abound in natural history books. But, to its 
 prejudice, it has the character of being very offensive. When 
 tamed and accustomed to its keepers this ceases to be the case. 
 * It is provided with glands near the anus, and in self-protection, 
 
 Fig. 14. a, Ventral scales, b, Sub-caudal scales. 
 
 when alarmed or excited, emits a very offensive odour, not other 
 wise, or so many friends would not have written in its favour. 
 
 Those who for the first time see it feed are filled with wonder 
 at the process, and with good reason. The frog is so much bigger 
 than the head of the snake that holds it, that to swallow it 
 undivided seems an impossibility. But now we witness the 
 adaptation of those loosely articulated jaws to suit the emergency. 
 If the snake has been pursuing the frog the latter is probably 
 caught by a hind leg, and is making violent efforts to escape. But, 
 without loosening its hold, the snake, by alternate movements of 
 the jaws, first the right then the left, like two hands hauling a 
 rope, contrives to work the frog round till the head is in its mouth, 
 and then you see the jaws stretch apart, and the head widening 
 out of all shape while froggy gradually disappears. Those rows 
 of slanting teeth, described in Chapter II., retain a firm hold, while 
 the jaws alternately advance over the prey, which soon ceases to 
 resist; though the victim will renew the kicking when several 
 
36 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 inches down the throat, where, indeed, owing to the expanding 
 ribs and the elastic covering of scales, there is more room to kick 
 than in the jaws and throat of the snake. Suffocation, however, 
 soon terminates the struggles, and the process has not lasted 
 many minutes. Sometimes if a frog is very large and unmanage- 
 able, and the process of swallowing it is prolonged, you may see 
 the snake's glottis advanced, this entrance to the trachea opening 
 to admit air, and closing again to exclude injurious particles of 
 dust or what not. A study of much interest is this, as also to 
 watch the snake's head and jaws getting into shape again after 
 the enormous expansion. 
 
 The ring snake is oviparous, and lays a string of eggs, from 
 fifteen to twenty-five, about the size of pigeons' eggs. The shells 
 are of a leathery texture, whitish, and usually deposited in moist and 
 decaying vegetation, or a manure heap, where the artificial warmth 
 will assist their development. They are hatched in about eight 
 weeks on an average, but influenced by the season and tempera- 
 ture. In a cool summer the hatching is retarded. Occasions have- 
 been known when the eggs are not hatched at all the same year, 
 but have remained during the winter, and hatched by the returning 
 warmth of the spring. In such cases the eggs are more liable to 
 be discovered and wantonly destroyed. We occasionally see it 
 recorded in provincial papers that a number of snakes that had 
 hibernated in company, as they usually do, had been unearthed 
 by labourers, and that among them were large quantities of eggs. 
 These would have been hatched as soon as the sun gained 
 sufficient power ; and in the meantime the eggs themselves were 
 undergoing a kind of hibernation, in as much as vitality in them, 
 and their consequent development, had been arrested. The 
 young snakes are at first nearly black, with the exception of the 
 collar, which gleams conspicuously by the contrast. After 
 casting their first cuticle, which is generally within a week, they 
 begin to eat ; when very young frogs must be found for them. 
 With each change of coat they assume a brighter tint, and they 
 change frequently during the early period of rapid growth, soon 
 assuming their natural colours, and showing their golden ring and 
 their round bright eyes to much advantage. This " ring/' how- 
 ever, varies much in shade or in intensity. Where several of the 
 snakes are together you will see the collar of some nearly white, 
 in some very pale, in others bright yellow, or absent entirely. It 
 is as often of a creamy-white as a gold colour, but always set off 
 by the deep black behind it. 
 
 For a cage for your tame snakes you cannot do better than 
 ad opt the plan of glass cages like those at the Zoological Gardens, 
 
THE RING SNAKE. 37 
 
 with the lid of perforated zinc at the top. Let there be plenty of 
 sand or gravel on the floor of it, some moss, which should be 
 frequently renewed, and a good large pan of water, which should 
 be filled afresh every day. In addition to these little comforts, 
 and to enable your pets to take exercise, a small growing shrub in 
 a pot will encourage them to climb, and to enable you to watch 
 their movements and their various gymnastics. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE SMOOTH SNAKE. 
 
 Sub-order i, OPHIDIA COLUBRIFORMES. Family, Colubrida. 
 Genus, Coronella. Species, anstriaca. 
 
 THIS little snake, though very common on the Continent, was 
 not admitted among the English fauna until about thirty years 
 ago. It was, I think, first found near Dumfries, and after many 
 doubts about it received the name of Coluber Dumfriesensis. It 
 was then taken to be a variety of viper, or the young of some 
 other snake. It was next found in Hampshire and in Dorset- 
 shire, and the question arose " Had it been introduced into 
 England, or was it truly a native ? " and if the latter, which was 
 its true locality? Mr. M. C. Cooke, in his book of Our 
 Reptiles, gives a very interesting account of its history and of the 
 various specimens caught, and the careful investigation of every 
 report concerning it before it was confidently decided to include 
 it among English snakes. By degrees its claim to be a native 
 was established. It was identified with the Coronella austriaca of 
 the Continent ; but it entered the lists here as Coronella Icevis, the 
 specific referring to its smooth, uncarinated scales. It is very 
 common on the Continent, where it is also known as Coluber 
 lewis and Coluber ferruginous, the latter from its colour. It 
 belongs to a very large group, including many genera, and 
 represented in nearly every country of the globe. It is a slender 
 little snake, seldom exceeding two feet in length, and is easily 
 distinguished from both the viper and the ring snake. In colour 
 it is a sort of rusty, reddish-brown, with black, but not very con- 
 spicuous spots. Its head is rather long and narrow, and covered 
 with plates or shields, and the body scales are short, and of a 
 rhomboid shape on the back, somewhat larger on the sides, with 
 the ventral scutae broad as usual. It has a shortish muzzle, and 
 the maxillary teeth longer posteriorly than in front, but no fangs. 
 Coronella lavis is said to be spiteful, and to try to bite when 
 caught, but it has no venom, and the bite can be no worse than 
 
. THE SMOOTH SNAKE. 39 
 
 the pressure of a row of pins. Grasp a snake close behind the 
 head so that it cannot turn to inflict a bite ; but to catch it press 
 a stick across its back to arrest its escape and to fetter its move- 
 ments, and then you can take it up by the neck. 
 
 C. Iczvis produces its young alive, so far as has been observed 
 of it in captivity, but some of its foreign relatives lay eggs. Its 
 natural food is lizards, which are plentiful in the same localities 
 where the snake itself is found, namely, on heaths and commons, 
 particularly those in Hampshire and near Poole and Bournemouth. 
 Like other snakes in a hungry fit, if its favourite food is not at 
 hand, it will take what it can get of a convenient size. It is said 
 to partake of a grasshopper now and then, and possibly would 
 not in that case wait to discriminate between a slender saurian 
 and a green arthropod. No doubt young slow-worms are a 
 seasonable dainty, their form and size suiting Coronella' s small 
 mouth and swallowing capacities admirably. Occasions are, 
 albeit, on record when the little snake has brought itself into 
 difficulties through a lack of discrimination. A gentleman had 
 a C. Iczvis and a slow-worm in the same cage, Anguis fragilis^ 
 a very large one, being very nearly as big as its companion. For 
 a time they lived together on excellent terms, Anguis being served 
 with worms and Coronella with small lizards. There came a time, 
 however, when lizards ran short. It was, if I remember rightly, 
 during the winter, and the snake had no food for a long while, 
 nor did it seem to require any. But one fine morning the gentle- 
 man came down to witness a great scuffling in the cage. Coro- 
 nella had the head of the slow-worm in its mouth, the two strug- 
 gling together, Anguis lashing itself about in desperate style. For 
 a time the battle went on with doubtful results, for though 
 Coronella retained its hold, the vigorous gyrations of the captive 
 considerably retarded proceedings ; but by degrees the little jaws 
 advanced as if they had watched their opportunity ; and the per- 
 severing Coronella, after three hours of very hard work, succeeded 
 in swallowing the last inch of its unoffending companion. There 
 are many stories of ill-judged snakes taking inconveniently bulky 
 prey, and even injuring themselves by so doing. As a rule, how- 
 ever, their adjustable jaws and ribs and their expansive skin 
 accommodate themselves to the occasion, and then a long repose 
 ensues. Many days or even weeks may elapse before the snake 
 is inclined to partake of another meal. 
 
 Though I have spoken of this little snake as Coronella Iczvis, 
 because it has become popularly known by that name, M. 
 Boulenger considers it is best entitled to preserve its original 
 name of C. austriaca, " as the oldest and that most generally in 
 
40 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 use " among scientific ophiologists : and the one, therefore, by 
 which it will ultimately appear in scientific works. It is 
 "smooth" certainly, in comparison with the viper, and in not 
 having carinated scales, but many other snakes are equally so ; 
 and as it was first described by Laurenti, the specific austriaca, 
 given by him, will probably remain as its permanent name. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE AMPHIBIANS. 
 
 Amphi, double ; Bios, life ; a double life. That is the meaning 
 of amphibious, a term formerly applied to those animals, reptiles, 
 and even some birds that are as much at home in water as on 
 land, resorting to each in turn at their pleasure ; as, for example, 
 crocodiles, otters, seals, turtles, etc., in addition to frogs and 
 newts. The true amphibians are, however, only those creatures 
 whose organism fits them to live and to breathe both in water 
 and on land ; not like the above animals, breathing atmospheric 
 air only ; but like fish at first, breathing by means of gills, in- 
 dependent of the upper air ; and then, in their mature state, 
 by means of lungs. They also possess the remarkable faculty 
 of cutaneous respiration, that is, a power in the skin to effect 
 changes in the blood usually performed by the lungs, which in 
 these creatures are inefficient. Like fishes, they are born or 
 hatched from an egg deposited in the water. Like fishes, their 
 locomotion at first is by swimming, by means of their long 
 fin-like tail ; their circulation and other functions are like those 
 of fishes; but withal, they undergo a metamorphosis. Their 
 gills are gradually absorbed and lungs are developed : in frogs and 
 toads the tail is absorbed and limbs are developed; and other 
 organs are gradually growing or being perfected, until they are 
 ready to begin their new life on land. Their metamorphosis, is 
 not like that of insects which undergo a period of torpidity in 
 the chrysalis state, and then emerge into the perfect imago ; but 
 it is a transformation which may be actually watched, as the growth 
 of eyes, mouth, and other organs are produced or developed from 
 the yolk of the egg. 
 
 The Amphibians, though represented in Britain by frogs, toads, 
 and newts only, include a large group presenting great diversity 
 of form in other parts of the world. They are caudata, with a 
 tail, ecaudata, without a tail ; apoda, without feet ; frogs and 
 newts with four perfect limbs, vermiform, or ophiomorpha, with 
 a worm-like, or snake-like exterior, together with some extinct 
 
42 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 orders, all go to form the class BATRACHIA. Frogs and toads vary 
 but little in their appearance, and notwithstanding there are some 
 hundreds of species in various parts of the world, all are easily 
 recognisable. Not so the newts or salamanders, among which 
 are bodies long and slender, short and stout, with two feet or 
 four, furnished variously with two, three, or four toes each. One 
 pair is sometimes so diminutive and close to the head that as feet 
 they can be of very little use, while another pair may be close to 
 the base of the tail. Some are so large as to attain four or five 
 feet in length, while others are measured by inches only. Some 
 retain their gills through life, others are furnished with lungs as 
 well as gills, or, as in our British species, the gills remain only during 
 the aquatic existence. Several interesting examples are generally 
 to be seen in the Reptilium of the Zoological Gardens. There is 
 the " Gigantic Salamander" of Japan, whose relationship to the 
 frog you will at once perceive in the form of its head and jaws. 
 There is also the American Amphiuma> a large, thick-bodied 
 amphibian, with a pair of almost invisible feet, no bigger than the 
 claws of a mouse, while the animal itself is above a yard in 
 length. And there are the pretty little Mexican Axolotls with 
 their large, feathery, permanent gills, which they wave to and 
 fro like fans. Besides which are newts and other members of 
 the group. 
 
 The Amphibians are mostly aquatic during life. Even those 
 which in the adult state take to the land, prefer moist and marshy 
 localities where water is within reach, but always fresh water ; 
 never in the sea are they seen. Indeed it is said that salt, even 
 in small quantities, acts so injuriously on their delicate skin as 
 to kill them. Their skin is soft and moist, and what is called 
 naked \ being destitute of scales, shields, or such protection as is 
 found in crocodiles and tortoises. 
 
 As was stated in Chapter L, the Batrachians, in common with 
 reptiles, birds, and fishes, are all produced from an egg; but 
 while birds and reptiles possess so many structural resemblances 
 as to be grouped together under the title Sauropsida (lizard-like), 
 the Amphibians approach the fishes in so many respects as to 
 be grouped with them as Ichthyopsida (resembling fish). In 
 their first or embryo condition they are fish without fins ; in their 
 second life or adult state they are more like reptiles. The change 
 is, as we shall see, a most interesting and wonderful one. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE COMMON FROG. 
 
 Class, AMPHIBIA. Order, Ecaudata. Family, Ranidcz. -Genus, 
 Rana. Species, temporaria. 
 
 OUR common frog is a very important little animal. Not only 
 has it been of immense service to science, and especially to 
 medical science, by the numbers of experiments practised upon 
 it, thus affording information of vast utility to the human race 
 (in which case only are such experiments justifiable), but, as will 
 be remembered, in leading to the discovery of galvanism. The 
 frog is, besides, the highest of the Amphibians ; that is, in its 
 anatomical structure it approaches more nearly to the higher 
 vertebrates than any other of its class. By the tables given in the 
 Introduction it was seen that in each successive sub-kingdom 
 there is a gradual advance what we may call an improvement of 
 organism and additions to organs. Beginning with the mere cell, 
 by degrees a mouth, limbs, eyes, heart, brain, external coverings, 
 and so on are developed or perfected, until the back-boned animals 
 are reached ; and in these the progressive stages are still observ- 
 able, so that the terms " higher " or " lower " in development are 
 understood to mean their place in this graduated scale. In some 
 of the intermediate forms called the lowest vertebrates the 
 backbone is never perfected, but remains a mere cartilage, never 
 hardening into bone : in these cases the noto-chord (see p. 45) is 
 largely or entirely persistent, as in the Tunicates, alluded to in 
 the- Introduction ; an intermediate group offering an example 
 of this advance from the lower to the higher creatures. They 
 have intruded themselves among our English reptiles for reasons 
 there given. But even since this Introduction was written those 
 researches of which I spoke have resulted in the discovery of 
 a third eye in fishes as well as lizards ; and " a rudimentary trace 
 of it in all other groups of vertebrates including the Amphibia? 
 Professor J. Beard, of the University of Freiburg, has, among 
 others, been investigating these "Parietal" eyes in fishes, .eta 
 He says, "Something that admitted of comparison could be 
 
44 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 found in the larval Ascidians, or Tunicates. But unfortunately 
 the Tunicates are such very degenerate vertebrates that very little 
 can be got from them for the elucidation of the problem." 
 
 Of that " little " they can be made to suit our purpose by com- 
 paring the metamorphosis which they undergo with that of the 
 frog, and thus afford us an example of that " higher " and " lower" 
 development, and also some idea of the part which an embryo 
 plays in this. 
 
 Both they and the frog begin life that is, a free, independent 
 life as a tadpole. In the egg they really do begin life, and we 
 will begin our examination of frogs' eggs from the time they are 
 laid. This is in the spring, when you may see a jelly-like mass 
 down among the weeds in a pond, and which on examination you 
 
 Fig. 15. Frogs' eggs and early tadpoles : natural size. 
 
 find to be composed of numerous globular bodies all clinging 
 together, and in the centre of each a small, dark, round body, which 
 is the yolk of the egg ; while the glutinous envelope is the " white " 
 of the egg. They are laid in a long string, but owing to the glairy 
 envelope which soon swells in the water to about a quarter of an 
 inch in diameter, the whole takes the form of an irregular trans- 
 parent clump full of dark specks. It is the latter which, after a 
 few hours, undergo a rapid change that can be observed under 
 the microscope. You will see each one of them dividing up into 
 a great number of sections or cells, as if acted uf>on by some 
 chemical agent. This is called segmentation, and is what every 
 egg whether fish, reptile, or fowl, the ovum of every vertebrate 
 animal, in fact undergoes. This cleavage, or yolk subdivision, 
 however, does not always present the same appearance in the eggs 
 of various creatures, though always it is the first stage of hatching. 
 The segmentation may be " equal " or " unequal." Sometimes it 
 proceeds more rapidly in one portion of the egg than another. 
 But, as a rule, the cleavage duplicates itself; first in halves, then 
 quarters, then 8, 16, 32, etc., sections, producing at last a granu- 
 
THE COMMON FROG. 
 
 45 
 
 lated appearance, or what is called a " mulberry mass." In the 
 frog's egg we have an example of unequal segmentation, although 
 symmetrical ; presenting the idea of a beautiful sphere, and 
 reminding us rather of our early lessons on the globe, than any- 
 thing we should expect to find in the egg of an animal. 
 
 Fig. 16. Eggs of frog, highly magnified. From Claus. 
 
 Still more so when we hear of its " poles, axes, equator," etc 
 One portion of the contents, lighter than the rest, always turns 
 uppermost, producing an " upper " pole, the opposite being the 
 "lower pole" of the egg. The first cleavage (fig. 2) divides the 
 egg into halves, the next (fig. 3) at right angles, forms four divisions 
 and an "axis" between the poles. Then, as you perceive in 
 fig. 4, an " equatorial " division, but nearer the upper than the 
 lower pole, and is followed by longitudinal divisions, after which 
 the yolk soon breaks up into numerous smaller cells, as seen in 
 the above examples. 
 
 One of the first indications of advance in the animal scale is 
 the presence of the note-chord, the forerunner of the vertebral 
 column, or backbone, which is incipiently begun in the egg just 
 so soon as the segmentation process is completed. Then there 
 appears in the yolk what is called the " primitive groove, a delicate 
 longitudinal line, the sides of which rise up and arch over, forming 
 a canal, the lining of which becomes the spinal chord; while be- 
 neath it a gelatinous rod develops into a noto-chord (chorda dor sails). 
 Hence ultimately the backbone. 
 
 Now in the Tunicates, as Claus 
 explains to us, there is an embryonic 
 development, which up to a certain 
 point presents a great resemblance 
 to that of the lower vertebrates. 
 First, the egg segmentation, subsequently a structure like a chorda 
 
 Fig. 17. Tunicate Tadpole. 
 
46 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 dorsalis, a " neural tube," a heart, respiratory organs, and so forth, 
 " analogous to those of Vertebrates," until quite a respectable 
 little tadpole is developed (fig. 17, last page). 
 
 In the frog's egg something of this kind may be watched from 
 day to day. The germ begins in the upper part. The illustrations 
 much magnified, especially the earlier ones, as given in fig. 18 
 enable us to trace the still further progress. I select them on 
 account of their distinctness, though tadpoles of a French, not an 
 English frog, but with a similar development. In the earliest (a) 
 we see that the embryo assumes a form before it leaves the egg, 
 but there is no mouth, and no sign of an eye. Between TV and S is 
 a very slight depression, which is where the future mouth will be, 
 as you will observe by comparing the same spot with that in 
 fig. b and fig. c. In the two latter the tail is large and strong, 
 compressed laterally for swimming; no limbs appear at present. 
 At S the spot indicates a sucker, with which at first the young 
 tadpoles attach themselves to plants. At N is the nostril. In 
 fig. c, at Hz, the depression has developed into a bird-like 
 
 N 
 
 Fig. 18. a, Before it leaves the egg. 
 
 "beak," or horny nippers, not the least like a frog's mouth, but 
 adapted to the little creature's wants, enabling it to nip the soft 
 water-plants which at this stage form its food, with doubtless the 
 minute forms of life attached thereto. Cope, the American 
 naturalist, tell us that the tadpoles of some frogs in the United 
 
I 
 
 fa 
 
43 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 States are excellent preparateurs of skeletons, " eating such flesh 
 of small dead animals as they can masticate with their feeble 
 horny jaws." They have furnished the most delicate specimens 
 in perfect preservation (as was long ago demonstrated by the late 
 Professor Baird, of the National Museum at Washington, where 
 some of them are to be seen). 
 
 In fig. c the eye begins to appear from under the skin at A, and 
 the gills K, are beginning to disappear. 
 
 On the previous page (fig. 19) we perceive considerable progress. 
 In fig. a the eye is larger, the mouth has changed its form, the 
 tail is well developed, and the hind limbs are sprouting, and 
 in fig. b are already furnished with feet. Figure c has a true 
 frog-like look, its tail is shrinking, its limbs now assist its swim- 
 ming. A still further advance is seen in fig. d, and a perfect little 
 frog, much larger than the natural size, sitting on the ground 
 in fig. e. 
 
 While you have been watching all these external changes, as 
 you would watch the budding of a favourite plant the sprouting 
 of the branchia^ the eye taking form, the mouth undergoing so 
 remarkable a transformation, the tail with its ribbon-like margins 
 gradually disappearing and the four limbs perfected the interior 
 development has been not less rapid. The branchice have dis- 
 appeared, and the chest is now furnished with lungs, the auditory 
 organs have been matured, the mouth provided with teeth, the 
 heart elaborated for the higher functions of circulation and pul- 
 monary respiration, the digestive organs adapted for new food y 
 and our little tadpole is no longer a fish but an air-breathing 
 animal. The rapidity of the metamorphosis is extraordinary. 
 The segmentation of the egg was only a matter of a few hours. 
 It has been known to occur in four hours in a high temperature. 
 
 Bell, the author of British Reptiles , records very careful ob- 
 servations of these various changes made by Ruseoni, who found 
 that in a temperature of from 73 to 80 tadpoles were hatched 
 in four days ; but as in an English spring that temperature is 
 rarely reached, much less continued, Bell reckoned about a month 
 for hatching, and probably another month for the entire meta- 
 morphosis, dependent again on the season after a late and cold 
 spring. Some spawn deposited about the i2th March I kept 
 in a temperature averaging 50 ; that is, at night below 50, and 
 in the day-time above. The bowl was placed in a window where 
 the morning sun on one or two occasions for an hour or two 
 brought the temperature to 70. But the weather was, for the 
 most part, chilly and sunless, and during five weeks there was 
 only a very slightly perceptible change in the eggs. Under a 
 
50 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 lens I could detect the form of the embryo, curled up, but no 
 movements. During that time the eggs had all become detached 
 and solitary with but little of the glair about them ; this latter, 
 which nourishes the egg, having been absorbed. They remained 
 at the bottom of the bowl. When they rise to the surface it 
 may be taken as an indication of their being worthless, as their 
 lightness is due to the gases of decomposition. One must con- 
 clude, therefore, that eggs hatched in four days, as above alluded 
 to, was exceedingly and unusually rapid, and by no means to be 
 expected even in our warmest English springs. Spawn, ordi- 
 narily deposited, is in bulk sufficient to fill a large hen's egg, and 
 the eggs must amount to hundreds. Frogs in captivity and in 
 a warm temperature spawn earlier than in the ponds, and would 
 naturally hatch earlier ; but on one occasion it was the beginning 
 of July I had some little frogs, whose tails had only just disap- 
 peared. In an early and warm season they would have become 
 land animals much sooner. 
 
 And now a last glance at the Tunicate tadpole, which we left 
 with a splendid tail to serve it as a swimming organ in the ocean 
 waves. There are several orders of Tunicates, and though the 
 tadpoles may not be precisely the same in all, they are mostly 
 endowed with the organs already enumerated, and an " auditory 
 vesicle," an "eye-spot of complicated lens-like structure," and 
 actually a brain. Like the frog tadpoles, they also have " suckers," 
 or arm-like projections sprouting from the upper part, with which 
 to anchor themselves to seaweeds or rocks. Would one suppose 
 that such promising little tadpoles could degenerate into plant- 
 like creatures such as those in figs. 2 and 20 ? 
 
 This is the sad tale of what biologists call their degradation. 
 With their suckers they begin a life of laziness. Those arm-like 
 tentacles root them to the spot. No longer using their well- 
 formed tail, it gradually diminishes and finally disappears ; the 
 notochord also, the eye and other partially developed organs 
 share the general retrogression, and the Tunicates remain mere 
 molluscs for the rest of their lives, with a mouth, a stomach, and 
 very little else. Curious that some kinds should arrange themselves 
 in so symmetrical a manner as those in fig. 21, proving nature's 
 universal tendency to beauty even in " degraded" forms. It is 
 as well to add that their mouth O is provided with cilia, whose 
 constant motion draws in the sea water ; they retain for food the 
 minute animals that swarm in it, and eject the liquid again 
 from the centre orifice, A. Should the cilia draw in anything that 
 is distasteful, or should any injurious substance approach the 
 mouth, it is at once detected and squirted away to a distance. 
 
THE COMMON FROG. 51 
 
 The water is sometimes squirted with considerable force five or 
 six inches. Hence their name " Sea-squirts." They are not 
 infrequent along our coasts. In these Ascidians we have a re- 
 markable exception to the rule that larva develop into higher 
 organisms. They compel biologists to seek elsewhere for the 
 origin and subsequent decadence of the median eye. 
 
 The frog, on the contrary, continues to improve in organisation 
 until it reaches maturity in its third summer. Its respiratory and 
 other organs are all perfected, also its bony skeleton, at first 
 mere cartilage. Parts of the skull become hardened, or are re- 
 placed by bony pieces. In the illustration of Rana escuknta 
 (p. 59) this may be seen ; it differs in no respect from R. 
 temporaria. 
 
 The chief characteristics of the genus Rana are teeth in the 
 upper jaw and on the palate (the latter are called vomerine teeth 
 from the supposed resemblance of the bone in which they are 
 fixed to a plough, vomer\ pupil of the eye horizontal, fingers free, 
 toes webbed, hind legs very long and formed for leaping, tongue 
 notched and free behind, skin smooth, moist, extremely sensitive 
 and an organ of respiration. Frogs, therefore, have a double 
 respiration, swallowing air by means of what Mivart calls "an 
 effective throat air-pump," and breathing through their skin as 
 well. Experiments have proved that the skin answers all the 
 purposes of lungs. A bladder tied so tightly over the head of a 
 frog as to entirely exclude air does not incommode it. Placed in 
 water in this condition, and kept there for a time, the water is 
 found to contain carbonic acid given off through the skin, just as 
 we give off carbonic acid from our lungs in each expiration. On 
 account of this sensitive skin and the active perspiration by which 
 it is kept moist, frogs in the vivarium must not be exposed to the 
 sun glare in hot weather. Unmindful of the importance of shade, 
 I once left the glass bowl in which my very young frogs resided 
 close to a window exposed to the full glare of a July sun. All 
 had seemed apparently well. that morning, but on looking at them 
 in the afternoon one was dead. It could, like the rest, have 
 sought shelter under or behind the minerals or green sprays with 
 which their home was furnished, but this little frog was much 
 given to climbing up the side of the bowl and clinging there, and 
 I have no doubt it had been struck by the intensely hot sun ot 
 that day. 
 
 The bony structure and muscles of a frog are extremely like 
 our own, only modified to suit its requirements. In the skeleton, 
 (fig. 22) you see how admifably the powerful hind limbs are adapted 
 for leaping. It is common to say of a frog, as of a grasshopper, 
 
REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 "it hops." The French word sauterelle is the more correct term 
 for the latter ; by the combined action of the legs both it and the 
 
 frog perform a perfect leap, 
 and no less nimble than 
 the "grasshopper" is the 
 frog. The extra joint in 
 the leg might be called a 
 heel, but is truly formed 
 by the very elongated 
 ankle bones. These bones, 
 flat on the ground, must 
 assist the leaping, but are 
 also used as an elbow. 
 We speak of persons 
 "elbowing their way" 
 through a crowd. The 
 frog "elbows" its way 
 with this posterior joint, 
 not through a crowd 
 certainly, but to back itself 
 into some safe retreat, as 
 I shall presently explain. 
 The foot of a frog is, as 
 Mivart shows us, "a very 
 marvel of complexity," 
 with an elaborate system 
 of muscles. The toes are 
 extremely long, and this 
 muscular system furnishes 
 to the little animal its 
 power of locomotion, both 
 on land and in water. A 
 frog has no ribs, though 
 those bony processes from 
 the eight joints of the 
 spine resemble ribs, and 
 are as long as the true ribs 
 
 Fig. 22. Skeleton of a frog. 
 
 of newts. While the frog 
 has a shorter spine than 
 any other vertebrate animal it has a breast-bone, sternum, and 
 is the first example in the rising scale in which the sternum 
 appears. 
 
 We may now clothe our frog with muscles and skin, and observe 
 its habits. As to colour, olive may be said to predominate ; but 
 
THE COMMON FROG. 53 
 
 with a brownish, reddish, or yellowish tinge, according to its 
 surroundings ; because a frog changes its colour. There are, how- 
 ever, some distinctive marks which are always apparent. The 
 long black' spot behind the eye, rendered still more conspicuous 
 by the light line immediately under it gives character to the head. 
 The thighs are striped, the belly is much lighter and spotted, 
 otherwise we can scarcely affirm that a frog is brown, or green, or 
 yellow. When just emerging from the mud it is so dark that the 
 black spot is scarcely seen, and when among grass or plants the 
 tint is greenish. These changes were always observable in my 
 little Batrachian family, and they were very frequent. One little 
 frog that liked to keep above and in the light was of a golden 
 tint, and the others that preferred hiding were much darker ; and 
 though all changed their tints, each was, under all circumstances, 
 sufficiently distinct for me to recognise it. The change of colour 
 is protective. Not that we may suppose that a frog deliberately 
 resolves to turn brown or black on dark ground, or green when 
 in the grass, but that there is something in the colour of 
 contiguous objects which does act upon the skin is very certain. 
 Glaus tells us that " the colourings of its skin are due to pigment 
 <:ells in the cutis, and that the changes of colour are caused by 
 changes in the form of the cells." 
 
 It is evident, therefore, that an external influence, and not a 
 voluntary operation, acts on the cells ; though the terms " imita- 
 tion " and " mimicry " have been used in describing changes of 
 colour in some insects and birds. The skin of a frog is also 
 richly supplied with nerves, and is to be regarded as the seat of 
 the tactile sense. A larger and older frog, in its second summer, 
 gave me frequent opportunities of remarking its extreme sensitive- 
 ness, starting at any sudden or jarring sound, as a nervous person 
 starts at a gun going off, or a door slamming. This frog, known 
 as " Froggin " (while the very young ones were " Froggies "), had 
 the run (or jump) of a glazed off-shoot to our house, called in the 
 house-agent's advertisement "Conservatory." In this little 
 fabrication, however, in company with a toad, Froggin seemed 
 well satisfied. He had his favourite corners from which he 
 surveyed the world, one most frequently chosen being a damp 
 nook almost under a water-tap. There was a fissure between the 
 bricks in that corner into which he backed himself, and as he 
 grew bigger edged himself sideways into it, with much perse- 
 verance, but with little apparent comfort, until he outgrew it 
 beyond any further squeezing, but did not even then desert the 
 corner. Drippings from the tap and even a good sprinkling he 
 seemed to regard as a refreshing summer shower ; but if a rush 
 
54 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 of water descended suddenly, then Froggin in one leap was far 
 away. He was as sensitive as a snake to vibrations through the 
 ground, such as anything being dragged, or let down suddenly. 
 His especial delight during the summer was to luxuriate under 
 some moss in a pan of water. Here he would remain all day, 
 with only his two little specks of nostrils on the tip of his snout 
 visible, and so indistinct were they that often one could only 
 discover him by seeking him. 
 
 That frog did not reciprocate the exigencies of science, or the 
 spirit of inquiry which led to his rather too frequent molestation. 
 The forcible examination of his fingers, toes, tongue, etc., seemed 
 to frustrate the taming process. Unmolested for a few days, and 
 with the remembrance of a yesterday's feast, he wore a very 
 different expression to that with which he greeted his recent 
 tormentor ; yet if he were in his usual corner on the morning 
 visit he did not attempt to escape; and if he were not there, 
 familiar sounds and he recognised my voice would invite him 
 from some nocturnal retreat, when he gradually made for his corner, 
 faced about, backed himself as far as practicable into the crevice, 
 and thence watched proceedings. Notwithstanding this sign of 
 confidence, his varying expression was unmistakable. Haunted by 
 yesterday's dental examination, he scowled up from under his 
 eyelids, and suspiciously watched an approaching hand. At other 
 times he would look up brightly, as also did the Froggies, as if to 
 say, " Well, what have you got for us ?" The changes of expres- 
 sion were unmistakable and yet perplexing, as one does not look 
 for emotional sentiments in frog physiognomy. But Glaus threw 
 light on this phenomenon also. " In Batrachians there is a 
 retractor muscle, by means of which the large bulb of the eye can 
 be drawn back." Further observation, therefore, may show us 
 that a sense of fear or displeasure causes this retraction of the eye- 
 ball, and that varied expressions may really be witnessed in the 
 face of a frog, and the appearance of " scowling " was one result. 
 I observed the same in the small frogs, and also in the toad ; but 
 the latter is of a more imperturbable temper, less excitable, and 
 the expression of its eye is habitually contemplative and unresent- 
 ful. Both have large prominent eyes capable of a wide range of 
 vision, and by the movement of the pupil can take side-long 
 glances without turning their heads. Indeed they never do turn 
 their heads, having no neck, no cervical vertebrae, but the 
 motion up and down of the head is frequent. The eye is not 
 buried in an orbit, as our own, but is only framed by the bone, as 
 may be seen by the large round spaces in the skeletons (p. 59), 
 and also that of the salamander (p. 71). If you look into 
 
THE COMMON FROG. 55 
 
 the mouth of a frog, toad, or newt you will see the actual eye- 
 ball naked, and occupying considerable space on each side of the 
 roof. The eyes are furnished with three lids, one of the lower 
 lids being a semi-transparent, nictitating membrane. 
 
 After any effort in swallowing as, for example, some unusually 
 large or rough food you will see this membrane drawn over the 
 eye. All the Batrachians that I have watched under such circum- 
 stances, viz., frogs, toads, and newts, hold up their heads, half 
 close their eyes with the lids working in apparent discomfort ; but 
 probably from the fact of their eye -balls being exposed in the 
 mouth, large-sized or rough prey does somewhat discomfort them. 
 
 The action of the eyelids in both frog and toad was particularly 
 manifest when, under forcible detention, first one and then the 
 other, wrapped tightly in a thick cloth, was having the interior 
 of its mouth examined. To hurt them as little as possible, I 
 took a fine silver bodkin with which to force open their mouths. 
 The little animals use extraordinary force in closing their jaws at 
 such times. Froggin got his arms out and tried to push it away ; 
 the toad was too tightly swathed ; but when at last the mouth 
 was got open and held open with the bodkin, as a bit, the 
 piteous, lachrymose expression of their eyes, especially the toad's, 
 was- so martyr-like as to be even laughable. All the three eyelids 
 were alternately working. The operation over, and the patients at 
 liberty, both took some time to recover the outrage and to reclose 
 their mouth, holding up their heads and blinking their eyes 
 helplessly and piteously, till at last each cautiously retreated to 
 a cherished hiding-place. It was curious to note the ingenuity 
 those two would display in finding a fresh hiding-place when 
 their temper was too much tried ; but within narrow limits the 
 secret retreat was soon discovered. Froggin, fond of climbing, 
 and having the advantage of the toad in being able to take a 
 high leap, had wider choice, and would in brighter moods be 
 found perched on the handle of the watering-pot, or a basket, on 
 the edge of the pots and flower-boxes, or on ledges. He seemed 
 to take each by turn, always, however, true to his corner in 
 peaceable times. What efforts he made towards self-maintenance 
 are very doubtful. I never saw him take any food not placed 
 close to him, though frogs are supposed, and expected to be very 
 useful in reducing garden pests. Near the outside door was a 
 little well or pit of unpaved floor, about sixteen inches square, 
 intended for drainage, but filled with earth and rubbish, a very 
 store- house of batrachian food. In this moist earth Froggin, 
 when the toad was not in possession, occasionally buried him- 
 self, always working himself backwards and downwards with 
 
56 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 those posterior " elbows," until only his head, or even the 
 nostrils were visible, and very difficult to distinguish. Here he 
 would remain sometimes for several days ; not to catch slugs and 
 wood-lice, and declining what were offered ; and as he after- 
 wards reappeared in brilliant colouring, I fancy these seasons of 
 retirement were previous to a change of garment. His manner of 
 doffing his coat I was never fortunate enough to witness, and can 
 therefore say nothing about it, but his manner of taking food 
 calls for a word or two. It is usually affirmed that frogs catch 
 their food by means of their tongue, as toads and chameleons do, 
 but this was a very exceptional proceeding with my frogs. The 
 little ones, without a single exception, jumped after and caught 
 their food ; and Froggin, with a trifle less energy, picked up his 
 prey in the same manner. 
 
 Only twice, and then as a sort of emergency, if a fly or a spider 
 were escaping, did I ever see the tongue used as a prehensile 
 organ; and as no one fed him but myself, and he seemed to 
 depend on me for all he ate, I had ample opportunity of watching 
 him. The toad, on the contrary, used only his tongue, and 
 surprised me at the distance he threw it out, quite two inches. 
 In form both tongues are alike; pink, clean, and notched, and 
 with that obnoxious bodkin both could be extended their own 
 length ; less than one inch, the tongue of the toad must, therefore, 
 be extensile to be thrown out so far. But the eccentricities of 
 Bufo must be reserved for their place. Another noticeable 
 item in Froggin's feeding was that he did not always take good 
 aim when springing at anything, sometimes making several 
 dashes before he caught it, sometimes giving it up altogether. 
 
 An especial dainty a spider, for instance he leaped up to 
 catch on the wall, often jumping high to do so. Nothing in the 
 way of insects came amiss, and the most energetic dashes were 
 made at green caterpillars. One large fat caterpillar was almost 
 too much for him, but he got it down ; and then followed the 
 usual demonstration of uplifted head and blinking eyelids. 
 Only moving creatures attract them or are aimed at. If a slug or 
 worm remain still they cease to regard it, then the slightest 
 movement re-arouses attention, and with head bent down they 
 study it, until convinced that it is indeed something alive, when 
 with a quick dash it is gone. 
 
 Should they get anything unpleasant into their mouths, as a 
 too-gritty worm, they eject it, and then sit with their mouth open 
 and their tongue out for some minutes, looking very foolish, and 
 using their fingers also to brush their lips. On one occasion a 
 little frog was trying to snatch its lesser brother's worm, when 
 
THE COMMON FROG. 57 
 
 with a pair of pincers, devoted entirely to Batrachian uses, I 
 gently pushed away the aggressor, the pincers barely touching its 
 snout. Instantly it leaped all over the cage, dashing at its snout 
 with its hand as if to push away something hurtful. It seemed 
 really distressed, not possibly by any wound, but there must have 
 been some sort of shock to its sensitive skin. So I gave Froggie 
 a bath, holding it head downwards to wash away the injury, and 
 the dip and a subsequent swim had the desired effect. To see 
 a frog swim is to take a first-class lesson. The regularity with 
 which they strike out, and the space gained at each stroke, would 
 rival the most adept human swimmer. 
 
 One word about climbing. Their first home was a deep glass 
 jar with so narrow a mouth that I thought a cover unnecessary. 
 Froggies, however, got out. Then I placed a green spray over 
 the top which must baffle the most skilful leaper, and still they 
 got out. After a time they were found climbing at various 
 heights, clinging like flies to the sides of the jar. By means of 
 suctorial discs on their fingers and toes they manage this ; with 
 much perseverance ascending the smooth glass. Up walls and 
 rough surfaces it is easier but those who have pet frogs must be 
 on their guard to secure them. A zinc lid was at last provided. 
 Afterwards they lived in a large glass bowl, and they got so 
 accustomed to their home that they did not attempt to escape 
 when the lid was removed ; not even when the bowl was placed 
 on its side on the floor, which I often did at night for them to 
 get out and forage for food. Only one or 'two more enterprising 
 took advantage of the privilege, and these grew much faster than 
 those who remained at home fasting all night. 
 
 In catching prey it is not a recognition of kind that guides the 
 Batrachian, but an instinct to seize upon a moving object. They 
 pounce upon some small thing, a leaf or twig that may be moving, 
 while, a real dainty if quiescent remains unnoticed. On one 
 occasion a very thin stream of water was trickling slowly towards 
 Froggin, who watched it coming, and made a dash at it, thinking 
 it was a worm, and then turned away disconcerted. It is said 
 that the first living thing a tadpole swallows is a fellow-creature 
 smaller than itself. They swarm in all sizes, luckily supplying 
 food for a wide circle of larger creatures, and yet they abound. 
 Frogs are abundant throughout England and Scotland, and have 
 been introduced into Ireland. They are in themselves perfectly 
 harmless, while of vast use in consuming for food the pests of 
 vegetation ; and at the same time being a food staple for many 
 birds, fishes, and larger reptiles. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE EDIBLE FROG. 
 
 Family, Ranidcz. Genus, Rana. Species, escuknta. 
 
 RAN A ESCULENTA was not originally a native of the British Isles, 
 but has been introduced, and is now frequent in the marshy 
 localities of the eastern counties, and is occasionally elsewhere 
 established. As it is customary to include it among the British 
 fauna, a few words may be said about it. 
 
 Regarding its development and mode of life, what has been 
 related of R. temporaria would in most respects describe Escuhnta, 
 
 Fig. 23. The Edible Frog. 
 
 excepting that the latter is more thoroughly aquatic, not keeping 
 entirely to the water, but being less on land than temporaria. It 
 has been called the " green frog," and is Rana viridis of some 
 herpetologists, but with no better reason than that which has 
 procured the name of " green snake " to Coluber natrix, viz., 
 being of a more greenish tint than the other frog, yet not the 
 true green of the tree frog Hyla. It is a trifle longer and 
 narrower than temporaria and with handsomer markings, and 
 conspicuous whitish or pale yellow lines down the back rendering 
 it easily distinguishable. 
 
THE EDIBLE FROG. 59 
 
 Boulenger's synopsis of the species is, Fingers blunt, of 
 moderate length, the first extending a little beyond the second ; 
 toes entirely webbed ; tympanum distinct, two-thirds the size of 
 the eye ; a glandular lateral fold narrower than the upper eyelid ; 
 vomeric teeth ; the upper parts more or less spotted or marbled 
 with black, or a very dark brown ; the hinder sides of the thighs 
 also marbled. 
 
 The male of 7?. esculenta has a curious inflatable pouch on each 
 side of its head, which is very conspicuous in the breeding 
 season. These prominences, which impart a very grotesque 
 appearance to the frog, are called vocal sacs, and give power to 
 the voice, more power than is quite agreeable in places where 
 Esculenta congregates ; its croak is voted a nuisance by those who 
 dwell within hearing. 
 
 The edible frog of England is somewhat less than its French 
 relatives, which furnish a favourite dish at table. One in America 
 is larger than either. The legs only are eaten, being as big as 
 those of a young chicken, and indeed might be mistaken for such. 
 On the prairies, near Chicago, is a very large frog which is 
 brought to market. At an hotel there I once partook of a fricassee 
 of frogs' legs, asking no questions when the dish was handed to 
 'me, but which, on eating, I found to be rather insipid, and 
 remarked to a friend, " What a pity to kill such very young 
 chickens ! " 
 
 Jmx 
 
 Et 
 
 del p e ** fa od n 
 
 a, % 
 
 Fig. 24. Upper or exterior surface. Fig. 25. Lower or interior surface. 
 
 EXPLANATION OF BONES OF FROG'S SKULL. 
 (Membrane bones of one side removed in each case.) 
 
 Ocl, exoccipital ; Pe, Petrosal (prootic) ; Et, girdle-bone or sphen-ethmoid ; Ty, 
 tympanic ; Fp, fronto-parietal ; J, quadrato-jugal ; MX, maxillary ; Jinx, prcemaxillary ; 
 TV, nasal ; Ps, parasphenoid (from the wedge shape) ; Pf, pterygoid ; PI, palatine ; 
 V, vomer. 
 
60 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 By these illustrations of the skull (alluded to on p. 51) the 
 changes which occur during the growth of a frog from the tadpole 
 to maturity may be studied, as also the names of the bones. The 
 darker parts are those where the cartilage has become hardened, 
 or is replaced by bony pieces ; one is viewed from the top of the 
 head, and the other from the interior of the mouth. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE COMMON TOAD. 
 
 Order, ECAUDATA. Family, Bufonidcz. Genus, Bufo. Species, 
 
 vulgaris. 
 
 THE chief generic and specific characteristics of Bufo vulgaris are, 
 according to Boulenger, toes at least half webbed ; no tarsal 
 fold ; sub-articular tubercles of toes double ; fingers free, the first 
 scarcely extending beyond the second ; sternum either cartila- 
 ginous or with a semi-ossified style ; no maxillary teeth ; tympanum 
 smaller than the eye, and not very distinct ; the male without a 
 vocal sac; upper parts warty. 
 
 In form and appearance the toad is not unlike the frog ; but 
 those who have once compared the two will easily recognise 
 individual peculiarities. The toad is of a stouter build, with 
 shorter legs, and is less active in its movements. Indeed, the 
 mode of progression in each . at once distinguishes them. We 
 rarely see a frog move otherwise than by a leap, excepting in 
 climbing, as backing itself into a corner, or working itself into 
 the ground, can hardly be called progression; whereas a toad 
 " crawls," creeps, or steps, one foot at a time, and takes a long 
 while to consider which foot to move next, and where. " Sluggish " 
 is the term applied to it ; yet its actions give an idea of delibera- 
 tion, rather. Under very great stimulus it ventures on a " hop," 
 but scarcely to clear the ground, while four inches is the extent 
 of its leap, accomplished with a jaunty semblance of activity 
 that is simply ludicrous. Ijts skin is warty, and, as a rule, dry ; of 
 a light brown or ashy colour, the warts or spots much darker. It 
 also has a faint shaded stripe down its back, but, like the frog, 
 changes its colour, and that readily. Its form is not elegant, truly, 
 especially when it puffs itself out, as it does when alarmed or 
 disturbed, and that to a great extent. At such times it crouches 
 close to the ground, and remains motionless. Under any very 
 sudden annoyance it stands up erect from the ground on its four 
 legs, as high as their length permits. My toad thus exhibited 
 
62 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 itself the day after it came into my possession, suddenly rising on 
 its legs and puffing itself enormously, a most ridiculous spectacle, 
 more like a puff-ball, or a toadstool than a toad. It was, I think, 
 because I was going to take it up, or because, being as yet a 
 stranger, my presence and attentions were unwelcome. At the 
 same time it exuded the cutaneous secretion which is its sole pro- 
 tection, and which is like a sudden and violent sweating, proving 
 a thoroughly effective barrier under which to entrench itself. One 
 could only watch it at a respectful distance. It presently subsided 
 into its usual position, and made cautious steps for a hiding- 
 place. Only on that occasion did I ever see it rise on its legs, 
 quadruped fashion ; and only for the first few days was there any 
 perspiring moisture on its head or body if I attempted to touch it. 
 Afterwards, with but one exception presently to be related, it was 
 always dry and clean. This exudation is owing to glandular 
 secretions, glands being generally present in the integument. 
 There are two large ones behind the eyes, parotid glands, which 
 abundantly emit this acrid, viscous fluid, also along the sides and 
 on the posterior extremities ; the entire body, however, becomes 
 suddenly moistened with this acrid secretion, which is extremely 
 unpleasant to other animals, and though not actually venomous, 
 is, to a certain extent, irritating, particularly to the stomach. Birds 
 have been known to die after swallowing toads ; even snakes will 
 not eat them by choice, though at the Reptilium, when other food 
 runs short, they will, if very hungry, accept a toad. 
 
 It is this sudden sweating, so to 'speak, of an unpleasant secre- 
 tion, which has gained for the toad the reputation of being 
 "venomous," and brought upon it universal disgust and oppro- 
 brium. Even among the intelligent, it is viewed with prejudice. 
 But its only means of protection lying in this, and in its capability 
 of concealing itself, and its life being really of important use in its 
 vast consumption of creatures injurious to vegetation, this self- 
 protecting habit should be regarded as one of those great economic 
 principles in the beneficent ordering of things by which the 
 balance of nature is maintained. 
 
 Toads begin life in all respects like the frog ; once leaving the 
 water becoming altogether land animals. When fully matured 
 they return to the water during the breeding season, and only 
 then. The eggs are laid in a long chain, and the tadpoles are a 
 trifle smaller and darker than frogs. 
 
 Many accounts of toads being easily tamed are recorded ; of 
 their taking food from the hand, or catching a fly on the window 
 pane while held, and so forth. Alas ! all my efforts at taming 
 to that extent have been unsuccessful. Probably my " Toadums " 
 
THE COMMON TOAD. 63 
 
 could not reconcile capricious kindnesses with the overhauling of 
 his tongue and toes, the bodkin gagging his mouth, and the close 
 imprisonment meanwhile. Yet, like Froggin, when there came 
 a temporary respite from these inflictions, he made some progress 
 towards friendliness. It was expedient during the summer to give 
 him occasional liberty, to support himself by his -own exertions. 
 And this for several reasons. The tiny frogs and also some small 
 newts that escaped from their glass globes in the conservatory 
 could not always be found again ; their numbers were fast dimi- 
 nishing, when, finding that the toad could swallow a slug much 
 larger than the newts and a beetle much bigger than the frogs, 
 I suspected that his tongue was the agent in their disappearance. 
 The few square yards of enclosed space called " garden " in 
 London swarmed with small molluscs, worms, and crustaceae, 
 good for toads but not for plants, and it seemed that Toadums 
 might as well help himself to these dainties. At the far corner 
 was a little "rockery," furnishing precisely the crevices and 
 hiding places in which he in troublous times could circumvent 
 me, but where, under happier auspices, he climbed and foraged, 
 growing rapidly, a proof of his ability to maintain himself. His 
 favourite retreat was one particular recess, a miniature cavern under 
 a projecting stone, where from within, eight or ten inches from 
 daylight, he could command approaches. Comically enough, 
 whenever he saw me near, he came to the entrance of this retreat, 
 and sat, like a sentinel at the door of his tent, waiting. His 
 vocabulary consisted of about three distinct sounds. One, a 
 subdued croak, "cgwha," seemed pleasurable; louder was re- 
 monstrative ; and a third, consisting of about five gutturals in one 
 unspellable ejaculation, was resistant. My usual greeting was to 
 pat and stroke his head, which he held down submissively, simply 
 remarking " cgwha." The finger removed he looked up, but 
 seeing it still there down went his head again ; but whether the 
 patting was agreeable, or that he merely submitted, was never 
 clear to me. With Froggin the attention was similarly accepted, 
 only he more quickly and inquiringly raised his head, as if to ask, 
 " Is that all?" Toadums' next move from his grotto was to 
 make for one particular corner, where, from behind a fern, he 
 faced about, observant. One day, a child who had witnessed the 
 above routine, threw stones on the sly at Toadums in his corner. 
 Presently I saw a little heap of stones and gravel, but the toad 
 was gone ; and after a long search was found hidden in a new 
 retreat, under another block of stone, which only by being lifted 
 led to his discovery. 
 
 Such an object was poor Toadums ! He was literally streaming 
 
64 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 with exudation, while one eye was completely hidden by a large 
 bladder, which, being covered with dust, had a most remarkable 
 appearance. Probably the child had thrown earth as well as 
 stones, and his coat being dusty the perspiration was almost mud ; 
 and the dust in his eyes, lifted by the abundant exudation, formed 
 this curious bladder nearly as big as his head. He was puffed to 
 the extremest size, and a more deplorable object can scarcely be 
 imagined. To touch him was impossible, so I replaced the stone 
 and there left him. The next day his trouble was over ; he came 
 to the mouth of his cave reattired in a pretty light brown coat, 
 with dark chocolate spots ; very bright eyes ; happy once more. 
 If he ate the discarded garment, as toads are supposed to do, he 
 must have the digestion of an ostrich. I was never lucky enough 
 to witness the process of discarding the coat, but it has been 
 often described by eye-witnesses ; the splitting down the back 
 and the drawing out of arms and legs, etc. Toadums renewed 
 his very often, as was easily seen, because when out of doors and 
 foraging among dead leaves, which were more black than any 
 other colour, he soon got sooty and dingy, till, as if disgusted 
 with himself, he remained closely hidden for a few days, and then 
 reappeared beautifully bright and clean, white vest and all com- 
 plete. It was a curious fact that he invariably reattired when 
 brought in from the garden. As if conscious of the fitness of 
 things, and the incongruity of a grubby garment in the society of 
 clean little frogs, orange-vested newts, glass globes, plants, and 
 gay colours, he was sure to appear well dressed at his earliest 
 convenience. He knew the door very well after once being 
 permitted to go out that way, and when it was shut would go to 
 it, try to crawl up, and there wait. He displayed perseverance 
 and even persistency, at variance with " sluggishness " in sur- 
 mounting an obstacle, also in climbing; standing on the very 
 tips of his toes like a ballet dancer, and reaching up as far as he 
 could stretch his arms. If only one finger could be got upon a 
 ledge, or an edge, or wherever he wished to mount, he then drew 
 himself up without difficulty; standing on the toes of one foot 
 while the other was raised to the level of the ringers, and by 
 degrees making sure of his hold. It was very grotesque, he on 
 one leg, with the three others stretched upwards. 
 
 But on one occasion he performed a gymnastic feat well worth 
 recording. During some heavy rains, when the outer door had 
 not been opened, Toadums was missing. Afterwards he was 
 found in his cavern, but how he got out was a mystery. He was, 
 however, permitted to remain out of doors. One morning, a 
 week or two afterwards, there he was back again, cosily nested 
 
THE COMMON TOAD. 65 
 
 in the corner pit, where, as usual, he had made a form, only his 
 head and bright eyes being visible above the mould. " Cwaugh," 
 he said, when I asked him how he came there; but too comfort- 
 able to stir, otherwise than to bend down his head at the accus- 
 tomed greeting. He seemed to be growing quite friendly, and to 
 accept of these familiarities ; but one day, when he was perambu- 
 lating the place, and I stooped down to pat him, he submitted for 
 a time, then suddenly, as with a purpose, turned completely 
 round and made for the pit, as if he had said, " I've had enough 
 of this." Never before had he moved with such celerity and 
 decision ; and when he reached the corner, instead of facing 
 about as usual, he looked straight up the wall, not stopping to 
 deliberate, but, to my amazement, having made sure of the spot, 
 beginning to climb. The two walls, at right angles, had no 
 prominences to lay hold of; but no chimney-sweep in the ante- 
 broom days could have proceeded more systematically, arms and 
 legs, elbows and knees, pressed alternately against the two sides, 
 and thus sustaining his heavy body as up he went, a difficult feat 
 and a wonderful performance. Fourteen or more inches of ascent 
 he made without once slipping, and with evident acquaintance 
 with the place. Reaching a part where a branch of vine let 
 through from outside had left a very slight chink, he, without 
 pause, turned sideways, and began to edge himself through, the 
 whole transaction exhibiting purpose, memory, and the result of 
 experience. This, then, was his private exit and entrance, but 
 how he had discovered the chink was a marvel. Only sideways 
 and by hard squeezing could he get through, but the achievement 
 was that of an expert. Probably he had made use of it for noc- 
 turnal expeditions, for his method of proceeding on this occasion 
 was with foreknowledge and facility. Outside he simply tumbled 
 headlong on to the flower-border ; and to get back he had two 
 feet of wall to surmount, a feat one did not happen to witness. 
 That the chink in the wall was wide enough to admit the toad 
 or within his reach never occurred to one, or that he could 
 have climbed up the bare wall to explore it. Being just over 
 his usual lair, the draught of air must have made him conscious 
 of an exit ; that is the only solution to the mystery. Boulenger 
 describes the toes of Bufo vulgaris as having double sub-articular 
 tubercles, and these no doubt assist in clinging ; but the pressure 
 of knees and elbows against the wall was very evident, and doubt- 
 less the principal means of ascent. On the approach of the 
 winter the chink was stopped up, when he would sit and stare up 
 at it, conscious of something different, but never attempting to 
 climb any more. 
 
66 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 On the tongue of this toad no signs could be detected of the 
 viscous, mucous secretion described by Bell and others. The 
 tongue appeared to be perfectly clean, like the frog's. It is 
 possible, however, that such secretion is stimulated by the sight 
 of food; just as the mouth of a snake "waters," so to speak, with 
 that abundant secretion from its salivary glands which lubricates 
 and renders food more easily swallowed. So a modification of 
 the secretion may imbue the tongue of a toad. It seems not 
 impossible, too, that the slightly bifid tip of the tongue may 
 render it in a slight degree prehensile. The ejection of the 
 tongue is so rapid that you cannot detect any action. A flash, 
 a little "click," and the insect has vanished. One day I chanced 
 to secure a very large cockroach, too big, I thought, for Toadums, 
 but I turned it at liberty nevertheless near enough for him to see 
 it, and with a little stick directed its progress towards him, closely 
 watching results. Within a few inches he began to watch it with 
 bent head, but without otherwise moving. When fully two inches 
 distant suddenly the tongue was thrown out, the click was heard, 
 and coleoptera had disappeared. Then Mr. Toadums resumed 
 his meditations as if nothing had happened. The business-like 
 expression of the eyes is very curious on such occasions, as when 
 a tempting creature is being studied. It is as if the toad were 
 temporarily aroused from a reverie with summoned attention, that 
 he obeyed that summons, got through his business, and dismissed 
 it for the more important cogitations. Thus sedately he invariably 
 took what was placed near enough, and always at a distance of at 
 least two inches. His method of catching food for himself out of 
 doors demanded, one would suppose, some additional effort.. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE NATTER-JACK. 
 
 Bufo calamita. 
 
 IN colour the Natter-Jack is of a more uniform tint, its spots being 
 less conspicuous than those of B. vulgaris. It is yellowish-brown, 
 shaded with olive, with a distinct yellow, or cream-coloured line 
 down the back. But I observe that all these creatures vary so 
 much in tint, that one cannot positively affirm that a frog or a 
 toad is precisely of this or that hue. The bright line and the 
 mode of progression in the Natter-Jack render it, however, unmis- 
 takable. It neither hops nor crawls, but walks nimbly, and in 
 warm weather, under excitement, runs with a smooth and easy 
 motion, very like that of a mouse, only not too quickly but that 
 you can^ follow the action of its limbs. 
 
 Bufo calamita used to be frequent on the heaths and commons 
 in the vicinity of London ; but with the spread of population it 
 has, like the wild flowers, almost disappeared. In the fen and 
 marshy counties, and in some parts of Scotland, it is still common, 
 and occasionally in Ireland. Its name Calamita (from calami, 
 reeds) indicates its favourite localities. 
 
 It appears to be able to adapt itself to variations of climate 
 and soil more readily than either the common toad or the frog. 
 Sir William Jardine found some in a marsh so near to Solway 
 Frith that the water was almost brackish ; while Bell assures us 
 that in his own garden near Poole they were more frequent than 
 the common toad, and that he saw them sometimes in the hottest 
 and dryest situations, exposed to the full rays of the summer's 
 sun. Mr. W. R. Tate records that he also found them in sunny 
 places. We do not hear so much about the Natter-Jack as a pet. 
 Tate, however, kept some that he succeeded in taming sufficiently 
 to take food from his hand ; they catch it on their tongues in the 
 same manner as other toads. He gives them the character of 
 being more sociable than B. vulgaris, always going in pairs. 
 Also more intelligent, at any rate less deliberate, as they do not 
 
68 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 stop to consider their footsteps, but if surprised "immediately 
 conceal themselves." They "dig" deep holes to lie in, excavating, 
 no doubt, as other toads, with the hind limbs, and yet they 
 repose frequently in shallow water with only their noses exposed 
 to the air, which I never saw my toad do. Tate considers that 
 they display superior sense in ceasing to croak when disturbed, 
 but the same instinct which leads to concealment would also 
 induce silence. 
 
 The tadpoles of the Natter-Jack are smaller than those of 
 Vvlgaris, and the metamorphosis is more rapid, lasting only six 
 or seven weeks ; but in a cold season this, no doubt, would be 
 prolonged, as we find to be the case throughout the class. The 
 generic characters are of course the same as Vulgaris. The 
 specific features are " Hind limbs short ; toes webbed at the base ; 
 no maxillary teeth ; crown without bony ridges ; snout short and 
 blunt ; first finger not extending beyond the second ; the male with 
 a vocal sac ; tympanum small, and not very distinct." 
 
 J3. calamita has the same kind of skin as Vulgaris, the warts being 
 even more prominent, but the skin appears to me to be more 
 moist, like the frog's, and not normally dry, as in the common 
 toad. Its eyes are also prominent, said to be even more so than 
 in Vulgaris. You may, however, observe an individual in which 
 they are not nearly so prominent, perhaps due to a retractor 
 muscle, as in the frog, but of this I cannot speak with certainty. 
 It is very certain, however, that when closed, the eyes of both are 
 only very slightly prominent, being almost level with the surround- 
 ing parts ; and this retraction of the eyeballs during hibernation 
 is a noteworthy protection to them. The same method of 
 breathing as in the rest of the Batrachians may be observed ; a 
 sort of throbbing or continuous pulsation in the throat caused by 
 swallowing air. In the very small nostrils at the end of the 
 snout, in both toads, you may discern action likewise. The 
 nostrils are furnished with a valve to open and close at will ; and 
 under alarm or excitement this tiny valve acts with a rapid 
 nervous motion, opening and closing like an eyelid blinking; 
 only the valve is below and c'oses upwards, like the nictitating 
 membrane of the eye. The effect is very remarkable. When 
 disturbed during hibernation though at the moment the breathing 
 may be hardly perceptible the throbbing of the throat and the 
 action of the nostrils begin almost immediately ; while the 
 creature extends its limbs in a helpless manner, and then you see 
 the eyelids working, the nictitating membrane being the last to 
 recede and expose the eyeball, which by degrees assumes its 
 usual prominence. 
 
THE NATTER-JACK. 69 
 
 The derivation of the word natter , from the German, appears to 
 be the same as adder, a corruption of the Saxon ntzdre, signifying 
 a crawling creature, with the gradual substitution of the / for the 
 d. The expression of face in the Natter-Jack is gentle, as in 
 Vulgaris ; the eyes have the same sort of reflective or contempla- 
 tive, as well as intelligent look. Those who without prejudice 
 care to study the physiognomy of these two toads cannot deny to 
 them this expression, seldom reproduced or done justice to in 
 illustrations. So meditative is the aspect of the common toad 
 when still, that I could never escape a feeling that an apology was 
 due when disturbing mine. And after such interruption, the 
 manner in which they both Vulgaris and Natter-Jack quietly 
 and unresentfully resume their meditations, commands the sort of 
 respect due to a philosophic character. More and more have 
 I wondered, since studying toadism, that the name is popularly 
 significant of meanness and generally contemptible qualities. Of 
 all the various " reptiles " which for many years have been my 
 pets and study, poor "Toadums " has, by reason of the popularly 
 despised " meekness " and gentleness, appealed most strongly to 
 tender compassion and consideration, except, alas ! when his 
 inexorable mistress, in the interests of " The Young Collector," 
 has ignored his struggles and his dolorous eyelids. My slighter 
 acquaintance with the Natter-Jack gives reason to accredit it with 
 similar family traits. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE NEWTS. 
 
 Class, BATRACHIA. Order, Caudate, or Urodela. Family, 
 Salamandrida, Genus, Molge. 
 
 FORMERLY the British newts were commonly known by the classi- 
 cal name Triton, probably from their aquatic habits. The smooth 
 newt was Lissotriton. A still more common and colloquial name 
 is Eft, or Evet, from the Saxon efete. Evet, with the article an, has 
 evidently been corrupted or abbreviated into newt, the v becoming 
 w, as is so often seen to be the case in our language ; thus an 
 evet (pronounced quickly eft), a nevt, a newt. 
 
 Molge, the modern generic name adopted by Boulenger and 
 other herpetologists, is from the Greek word MoXy^s, signifying 
 slow, which may refer to their movements on land, or more appro- 
 priately to their development, as they are three years in arriving 
 at maturity. 
 
 Bell gave at least four species of newt as belonging to Britain ; 
 but since the publication of Bell's popular work, "The British 
 Reptiles," the newts have been receiving more attention from 
 naturalists, and the British species are now reduced to three. 
 The changes in appearance which they undergo at different 
 seasons of the year, their alternate aquatic and terrestrial habits, 
 and their slow development, caused some confusion in identifying 
 the species, and probably a multiplication of them. M. C. Cooke, 
 in his work " Our Reptiles," which was written sixteen years later 
 than Bell's, explained away several of these misconceptions. 
 
 In form the newts are sufficiently like the lizards to have been 
 called "Water Lizards," or " Marsh Lizards," Lacerta palustris of 
 some herpetologists. Many excellent dictionaries even now give 
 the definition u a lizard" to the word eft or newt, but lexi- 
 cographers are not always naturalists, and they copy the older 
 works a good deal. The relationship of newts to the frog is easily 
 recognised in the broad head and rounded muzzle, the prominent 
 eyes, and smooth, naked skin. Though so small, their resem- 
 
Et 
 
 N 
 
 FIG. a. 
 
 Oct. exoccipital bone. 
 P. parietal. 
 F. frontal. 
 Ty. tympanic. 
 Pe. petrosal. 
 MX. maxillary. 
 Jmx. Inter-maxillary. 
 N. nasal. 
 
 Vo. vomer. 
 Et. girdle-bone. 
 
 Pi. pterygoid. 
 
 Sc. pectoral girdle. 
 
 //. Pelvic girdle. 
 
 S. sacral.vertebra. 
 
 R. ribs. 
 
 FIG. b. 
 
 Zb. hyoid arches. 
 Kb. branchial arches. 
 
 Fig. 26. Skeleton of Newt ; from Glaus. 
 
72 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 blance to the Salamander is evident, explaining their family name. 
 Like the frogs, they breathe through their skin as well as by lungs ; 
 and the same action of the throat in breathing or swallowing air 
 is observable. Giving out carbonic acid through the skin, they 
 require constant attention when in captivity, and a frequent change 
 of water, which otherwise becomes vitiated, in the same way that 
 the air of a close room full of people becomes vitiated. 
 
 Their period of greatest activity is in April, May, and a part of 
 June, when they are in the water. They are provided with a 
 long, laterally compressed tail, which is their swimming organ, 
 their short legs being used only to guide their movements in the 
 water, and not as agents in swimming. And though more of an 
 aquatic habit than the frogs, their feet are not so permanently 
 webbed. The action of the legs is so easy and rapid that they 
 appear to hang loose, so to speak, as if unhinged, though every 
 slightest change in their position guides the animal in swimming, 
 as a rudder guides a boat. Sometimes they are folded back close 
 to the body so as to present no resistance in the water, then, in 
 an instant, they are at one angle or another, or prone again, more 
 as if swayed by the water than their owner. Then, when the newt 
 is floating or quiescent, either in the water or upon the surface, 
 the legs are extended at right angles to the body, so as the better 
 to help sustain its weight. The illustration (fig.' 26), though repre- 
 senting the skeleton of a larger Salamander, affords a correct idea 
 of the form, with its elongated, flexible vertebral column, its short 
 ribs and legs, the latter extended in the position natural to them 
 when stationary. 
 
 The three British species of Molge are alike in having a soft, 
 sensitive skin, a compressed tail, four fingers and five toes, 
 toothed jaws and palate, developed eyelids, and the third nictitat- 
 ing membranous lid. They all have very small nostrils at the 
 end of the snout, and communicating with the mouth, close to 
 the front. The males, during the spring, which is the breeding 
 season, have a fine dorsal crest, which afterwards disappears as 
 described (p. 76). 
 
 Newts lay their eggs singly among the pond weeds, and are said to 
 secure each egg by pressing together with their legs the parts of 
 the plant to hide it, as if prompted by an intelligent sense of pro- 
 tecting their eggs from the swarms of little frog and toad tad- 
 poles, and even their own near relatives, small fish, and other 
 hungry hunters, who would speedily devour them. The egg goes 
 through the unequal segmentation, and when hatched the little 
 tadpoles are at first furnished with suckers, somewhat more stalked 
 than those of the frog, and with which to attach themselves to a 
 
THE NEWTS. 
 
 73 
 
 plant until their swimming tail and other organs are sufficiently 
 developed to enable them to enter upon their active life. Their 
 respiration is at first aquatic, by means of gills, which are larger 
 and more feathery than those of the frog. 
 
 As the grqwth of the young tadpoles progresses, you may watch 
 the limbs sprouting and the tail gradually acquiring size and strength 
 to serve them through life. Unlike the frog, the anterior limbs 
 
 Fig. 27. Eggs and Tadpoles of Newts (enlarged). 
 
 a, b, c, d, eggs in various stages ; e,f, g; tadpoles showing the sprouting of limbs 
 and branchiae. 
 
 are the first to sprout, and the legs afterwards. As the lungs 
 become developed the gills gradually disappear, and the young tad- 
 poles become air-breathing animals. During this metamorphosis 
 the body of the tiny creature is sufficiently transparent for you, with 
 a powerful lens, to watch the internal development, which is a study 
 of immense interest. Even what food they take and the process of 
 digestion can be observed through their delicate skin, and you 
 will find them exceedingly voracious little feeders, and also 
 cannibals, unless plentifully supplied with other dainties. To 
 catch young tadpoles with a muslin net, like a butterfly net, is 
 not at all difficult; but to feed them and keep them in health 
 when you have caught them is by no means easy, as they can 
 take only such very small prey. If you venture on the care of 
 them at all I should recommend a large receptacle, a bath, for 
 
74 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 instance, and that you bring water and a plentiful supply from 
 the pond, of whatever is in your net, including even weeds, and 
 turn all into the receptacle ; when in all probability food supplies 
 will come in the form of still smaller aquatic creatures, which must 
 be sacrificed to the needs of the larger ones, as in their native 
 pond. By-and-by very small worms can be found for them, and 
 the larger they become the easier it will be to feed them. The 
 young collector who lives in the country, and has ample accom- 
 modation for a vivarium, cannot do better than to have it entirely 
 filled with water from the pond in which he finds the tadpoles, 
 whether of newts or frogs, and with it the delicate weeds, among 
 which there are likely to be eggs and larvae of other creatures, 
 insects, etc. Weeds are an important addition to the aquarium, 
 as they maintain the purity of the water. Indeed, the balance 
 of animal and vegetable life is essential for the health of both, 
 and there can be no better way of feeding very young Batrachia 
 than to bring a supply of pond weeds. The pretty, graceful 
 Potamogeton adds greatly to the interest of your aquarium too, 
 and the tiny frogs and newts love to climb and rest upon it, thus 
 adding to the picture. 
 
 Intelligence is not lacking in the newts. Almost sooner than 
 the frogs they learned to recognise their keeper, looking up if 
 under the water, or turning their heads when out of it. Hunger 
 was, I fear, the chief prompter of this watchfulness, their fasting 
 being sometimes too rigid, owing to the difficulty of finding 
 worms or what not small enough for the lesser members of the 
 Molge family, and partly because the larger newts would be 
 first to seize upon whatever was offered. As summer approaches 
 they mostly forsake the water, and lead a very inactive life. 
 It is necessary then to reduce the quantity of water in your 
 aquarium, and arrange some fragments of rock, spa, or what not, so 
 that the newts can be on dry land when it suits them. Floating 
 on the water in my glass globe was a broad, flat piece of cork, 
 covered with fine moss and minute vegetation, and upon this my 
 captive newts would rest for hours or even days together. One 
 male, M. cristata, by the beginning of June made frantic efforts to get 
 out of the water ; dashing and leaping against the sides of the 
 glass ; but not for a long while did he get upon this little island 
 of his own accord ; yet when placed there would remain perfectly 
 contented. I have observed them in the same position hour 
 after hour on this floating island, one perhaps lying across another, 
 or in some attitude not to be forgotten, and, I have reason to 
 believe, remaining thus the entire day. And very graceful were 
 their attitudes, very pretty they looked upon the little emerald 
 
THE NEWTS. 75 
 
 isle, one large warty newt especially, so glossy black, like a marble 
 table ornament. If food were placed there they would sometimes 
 rouse themselves to seize it, but if not quick the worm would 
 wriggle off, when the newts made no effort to pursue it, and if 
 pushed off into the water themselves displayed no lack of activity 
 in trying to get out again. Hot weather stimulates their facul- 
 ties. Very soon they recognised the fact that when the zinc 
 cover was removed from the globe food supplies were arriving, 
 something to cause them to turn their heads ; and if by a touch 
 the island turned round and they upon it, their heads remained 
 directed towards that quarter, imparting very graceful curves to 
 the half-raised body. 
 
 Newts, in common with other reptiles, moult during the sum- 
 mer. It has been affirmed by Bell and some other naturalists 
 that the skin comes off in shreds. This sometimes is the case, 
 but may be taken as the exception and not the rule. Observation 
 of the two British species, M. cristata and M. vulgaris, and also 
 of some Pleurodele newts, justifies the belief that, like most reptiles, 
 the sloughing begins at the mouth, the cuticle slipping or being 
 shoved off to the tail. You may see a newt pushing and rubbing 
 its jaws against anything with which it comes in contact until the 
 slough is separated round the lips, when by continual friction it is 
 pushed back. First one arm and then another is next drawn out, 
 sometimes reversed, sometimes not, the newt pushing down the 
 slough, occasionally expediting the process with its feet ; then 
 the legs are withdrawn, and the tail slides easily out from the 
 rest, which unless the newt eats it up directly, as it often does, 
 floats, a cloudy film, in the water. Its texture is almost too 
 attenuated to be termed a skin ; it is a shapeless, almost invisible 
 web, and, when taken out of the water, collapses into nothingness 
 almost indistinguishable on the stick or brush, or whatever you 
 use to raise it. But if, when it is floating, you very gently stir the 
 water near it, ft may partially expand, so that a hand, or a leg, or 
 the tail part may be distinguished, and enable you to ascertain 
 whether it is entire or not. By this means I was able to observe 
 that a slough cast by a warty newt in May had a crest about as 
 high as that of the upper newt in the frontispiece; and that 
 another, cast by the same newt about a month later, had barely 
 any crest at all, agreeing exactly with the gradual disappearance 
 of the crest on that particular newt. Often the little animals tear 
 away their sloughs with their mouths, or scratch it off with their 
 feet, twisting themselves about so frantically that one wonders 
 any part should remain entire. No doubt the loose skin irritates 
 them, as they occasionally tear off a" bit and eat it, as if in irrita- 
 
76 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 tion, and then tear off more, till entirely free. Occasionally 
 you may see only small remnants of these filmy garments hanging 
 among the water-weeds, so that one cannot affirm that invariably 
 the slough is cast in one way or another. One of my newts cast 
 its coat three times during the summer, another twice, and in 
 another bowl containing three individuals, I found only two 
 sloughs ; but then more might have cast and eaten that did not 
 fall under my observation. 
 
 MOLGE CRISTATA. 
 
 This species, commonly known as the " great water newt," 
 is large only by comparison with the other British species, 
 which are much smaller, as it rarely attains six inches in 
 length. It is also called the " warty newt," from the excre- 
 scences on its skin, similar to those of the toad, and secreting 
 humours, only in a less degree; but, from having always a moist 
 skin, not to be observed as in the toad. My newts were in 
 my hands very frequently, but I never discovered anything in the 
 slightest degree unpleasant in them. They have large prominent 
 eyeballs, which, like those of the frogs and toads, are seen 
 within the mouth. The teeth are very fine, and those on the 
 palate can be felt with the finger. This is the Triton cristatus 
 of Bell and Cooke, and it has a long list of synonyms besides. 
 It is the newt on the bank in the frontispiece, and below it, in 
 the water, is a female of the same species, and without a crest. 
 Both are about the natural size. In colour this newt varies slightly, 
 but is generally very dark above. Those in my possession are so 
 black that the warts are only discernible as inequalities, but the 
 breast and belly are of a bright orange with black spots. Espe- 
 cially handsome are the males during the spring, when, decked 
 out in their frills and fringes, they "a wooing go." At this season 
 a fine dorsal crest, sometimes half an inch high, appears. It 
 begins on the head, between the eyes, increasing in width towards 
 the middle of the back, decreasing towards the tail, and again 
 conspicuous on the latter. It is deeply notched and very orna- 
 mental. Besides this decoration the tail has now a broad, silvery 
 white stripe on each side, the whole length of it ; and as at this 
 time of the year the newt takes entirely to the water, and is actively 
 swimming about, the white band flashes in the light with an effect 
 as if the long, streaming tail were split, or forked, like a pennon. 
 A slighter undenticulated crest borders the tail below also, causing 
 it to appear much wider than at other times. The head of the 
 male is broader than that of the female, and the colours are much 
 more vivid. 
 
THE NEWTS. 77 
 
 The tail is eloquent in the newt as in most other creatures, 
 occasionally flapping rapidly, and in fear or anger curling laterally, 
 I could always estimate the degree of fear or of anger in my newts 
 by the curving of their tail. When suddenly disturbed it was 
 curled up alhiost tightly, and close to the body. At other times 
 it was slightly curved, and so on. It is, to a certain extent, pre- 
 hensile also ; and when the newt is taken out of the water the 
 tail is clasped round the finger as a safeguard to the owner on 
 finding itself in an unusual and perhaps dangerous position. 
 
 The warty newts displayed the same climbing tendencies as 
 the smooth newts, somehow managing to get out of the glass 
 globe even when only half full of water, until I covered it with 
 a perforated zinc lid. Some got away entirely, which was more 
 practicable to them than to the toad, as the slight space under 
 the door would easily admit their slender body ; or, climbing 
 easily, they might have got through the chink in the wall. Fre- 
 quently they buried themselves in the mould, and I would turn 
 them up after many days, when quite given up for lost ; or I might 
 discover one calmly exploring on the floor of the conservatory. 
 While accrediting them with graceful movements, truth compels 
 one to limit these to the water, or when reposing ; their slow, 
 wriggling motion on terra firma being anything but graceful. 
 Their very feeble limbs are not adapted for fleetness of motion 
 on land. 
 
 MOLGE VULGARIS. 
 
 These little newts are more common than the warty newt, 
 and are found in almost every pond, some in my possession 
 coming from near London. They are very much smaller 
 than cristata, much lighter and more variable in colour. Grey- 
 ish, sandy, very light brown, or pale olive individuals may 
 be seen, with darker spots ; and pale orange, with black spots 
 beneath ; but, as in the other species, the female is the less brightly 
 coloured, and both are in their brightest in spring. While the 
 specific cristata has been assigned to the warty newt, the commoner 
 kind is really best entitled to the distinction, its crest in spring 
 being very high and conspicuous, festooned, and continuous from 
 the head to the tip of the tail, which, like the other, is laterally 
 compressed. The lower one to the right, swimming upwards, in 
 the frontispiece, represents the little eft natural size. The female 
 has also a crest, but low and straight-edged, not conspicuous, as in 
 the male. The handsome crests of my suburban newts disap- 
 peared with singular rapidity, whether from captivity, or the loss of 
 their mates, I cannot say. Some male specimens brought me 
 
78 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 in May were decorated with very high crests, which in two or 
 three days were much diminished, and in another week were 
 barely discernible. As in the larger species, the crest is adopted 
 for the courting season, and departs with it. 
 
 The skin of this little newt is entirely free from warts, hence 
 its name " smooth newt." Boulenger's synopsis of the species is 
 the head longer than broad, and with three distinct longitudinal 
 grooves upon it, also a dark median streak ; the snout elongate, 
 and the body rounded. The fingers and toes of the female are 
 shorter than those of the male, which are lobate ; also with two 
 small carpal and tarsal tubercles. These are the little newts that 
 climb the glass so skilfully, no doubt aided in clinging by those 
 tubercles. The globe they inhabited was what we may call very 
 high-shouldered, with a narrow mouth ; so that before they could 
 get out, they were almost topsy-turvey, like a fly on the ceiling, 
 and most perseveringly did they manage this gravitation, going in 
 a zigzag fashion to break the ascent, like a horse dragging a 
 weight up a hill. Often you might perceive that it was not easy 
 to get foothold ; and often they fell back and down, but, nothing 
 daunted, began again. Several escaped entirely, or fell a prey to 
 Toadums, but sometimes were found, submitting to be caught 
 without resistance, apparently glad to get home again. In their 
 natural state they wander an immense distance from water. Mr. 
 F. Waterhouse informed me that he found some in his garden at 
 Putney, and they must have travelled a long way, and climbed 
 over a wall at the end of their journey. I arranged a little sort 
 of rockwork, well out of the water, and with only pools of the 
 latter in the globe, so that during the summer they could take 
 their choice ; and for the most part they preferred to be high and 
 dry. Very small worms they ate most readily or small slugs ; but, 
 like the frogs, they take no notice of what is offered them unless 
 it moves, and then do not use much exertion to secure it. One 
 little newt fared so badly from its own slowness and timidity that 
 it became a mere skeleton, painful to behold. Very rarely could 
 one entice it to eat, and as early as September it showed a dis- 
 position to hibernate, though still keeping out of the water. It 
 even survived some very severe frost, and now, at the last moment 
 of writing (February 1888), is still alive, though its tiny bones can 
 all be counted. One very small frog in the same globe, thin for 
 similar reasons, succumbed to the frost, two larger frogs (though 
 the same age and brood) have kept under the rocks, and are 
 alive and strong. The surviving warty newt has also kept above 
 ground, and none have displayed any inclination to bury them- 
 selves in the " mud " at the bottom of the globe. On two occa- 
 
THE NEWTS. 79, 
 
 sions the water in the globe was frozen hard, the frogs and the 
 larger newt being under the ice, but the tiny skeleton eft remained 
 above. Though literally frozen up, none can be said to have 
 actually hibernated, their eyes being always open, and when the 
 ice was bro,ken the frogs dashed about as vigorously as in 
 summer. 
 
 MOLGE PALMATA. 
 
 The male palmated newt may be easily recognised among 
 others in the water by having its toes fully webbed, like a duck's 
 foot ; and by a curious little filament, something like a tentacle,, 
 growing out of the tip of its tail. One should rather say the 
 end of its tail, which is blunt, as if that portion were cut off, 
 and this filament substituted the lost tip. In the female there 
 is only a very slight indication of the same thing, her tail being, 
 more pointed, like the other newts. Palmata is the smallest of 
 the three, and smooth-skinned, the female somewhat resembling, 
 the smooth newt. 
 
 As it is in the spring, when all the Batrachia take to the water 
 again, that the newts are generally sought for and caught, a 
 description of Palmata at that season will best assist in identifying 
 him, this newt having peculiar aquatic adornments. His crest is 
 lower and straight, without the handsome festooning of the others. 
 His tail has an upper and lower crest, not very deep, so that he 
 lacks the fine appearance of Vulgaris. His body at this season 
 has a quadrangular appearance, by reason of a sort of keel formed 
 by a cutaneous fold bordering each side of it. The body of the 
 female is roundish ; she has a low crest or vertebral ridge, but 
 less conspicuous than in her mate, and also a fin or crest of pale 
 orange colour on the lower part of her tail. It is interesting to 
 note how these newts develop extra appendages when they for a 
 time renew their aquatic life, and which afterwards disappear 
 during their terrestrial existence; the crests, the webs between 
 the toes, and in this species the tail filament, all disappear at the 
 end of the season. It is an intelligent instinct also that causes 
 them to take to the water during the breeding season, as if they 
 were conscious of the necessity of that element for the young 
 which are to be hatched and to spend their tadpole existence 
 in it. 
 
 The other characteristics of Molge pahnata are that it has 
 vomerine teeth, and a distinct gula fold, that is, a slight doubling 
 over of the skin of the throat. In colour the upper parts are a 
 sort of olive-brown with small spots t>f a darker hue. The head 
 has longitudinal dark streaks upon it, and the dorsal crest of the 
 
8O REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 male and also its feet are almost black; the belly, as in the 
 other species, is orange. The tail on the lower part is greyish 
 with dark spots. The female is altogether of a paler hue than 
 the male, but her tail is handsomely spotted. 
 
 Palmata is found in various parts of Britain, from the Isle of 
 Wight to the north of Scotland, and quite near to the sea, which 
 is remarkable, considering the extreme sensitiveness of the Batra- 
 chian skin to salt. 
 
 Molge palmata has not been one of the members of my Batra- 
 chian family, therefore I regret having none of its individual 
 habits and performances to recount. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE SAURIANS. 
 
 Class, REPTILIA. Order, Lacertilia. 
 
 BELONGING to the same class as the snakes, the lizards might 
 properly have followed them in order ; but there is so much in 
 frog development to throw light on that of other forms, that I 
 ventured to deviate from the usual routine by introducing the 
 Batrachians between the two groups of reptiles. In point of size, 
 too, the snakes exceed the frogs ; and our little zootica, being 
 almost the least of reptiles, will complete the list of our thirteen 
 British species. 
 
 Lizards are allied to snakes by many close gradations. The 
 slow- worm, in form a snake, but a limbless lizard, is one example 
 of this. The integument of lizards is much more varied than in 
 snakes. In some it is composed of strong hard shields, in others 
 it is spiny, warty, or like a polished cuirass.; but in our three 
 native lizards it is of fine scales, more approaching the ophidian 
 cuticle than in many of the larger saurians. The anatomy, too, 
 and movements of many are snake-like, even where there are 
 four limbs ; but which scarcely raise the body from the ground, 
 and are of little use in locomotion, or are rather assisted by the 
 undulations of the body. Others have well-developed feet or 
 claws, furnished with five toes each, and often strong hard nails, 
 with which they scratch and dig into the earth, either in search 
 of food or to hide themselves. You may see lizards in captivity 
 constantly scratching the earth or sand, or any dry surface ; or 
 persevering, hour after hour, at the glass sides of their cages ; 
 which does not say much for their intelligence in not learning by 
 experience that many weeks of such labour produces no effect 
 upon the glass. Most lizards are good climbers, especially the 
 small and agile species which inhabit rocks, walls, and trees. Other 
 saurian characteristics are that they have movable eyelids, non- 
 extensible jaws and mouth which compels them to limit the 
 size of their prey and movable ribs. A sternum is always 
 
 6 
 
THE SAURIANS. 8j 
 
 present, even should there be no limbs, as in Anguis fragilis ; and 
 there is generally a vestige of a pelvis, but more thoroughly 
 developed where there are legs to support. Most lizards are 
 exceedingly active, darting about with a swiftness that almost 
 baffles the eye, while to detect motion in the legs is impossible. 
 Even those thick-set species, which in confinement appear so 
 sluggish, scarcely moving from day to day, are, in their native 
 tropics, almost as nimble as the slender ones. The skeleton of 
 a lizard (fig. 28), with its long and flexible spine, movable ribs, and 
 slender limbs, all indicate activity and nimbleness. 
 
 Lizards are said to be able to reproduce their limbs if lost or 
 maimed. So far as my own observation goes, I doubt if the 
 bony structure is ever perfectly renewed, but only an imperfect 
 cartilaginous claw or tail- tip. It is possible that by very slow 
 degrees the cartilage may become ossified ; but the same reptile 
 should be kept alive and well, and be carefully watched for a 
 long period, before the fact can be established. So here is an 
 opportunity for our young collector to make and record obser- 
 vations that may be of real scientific value ; viz., to see how long 
 he can preserve the life of his pets, and to note down accurately 
 how long the lizards take to repair their limbs or their tail, when 
 one is nipped off by accident, or by a fellow-captive. A viviparous 
 lizard, brought to me from Hampstead Heath in May 1885, had 
 an uneven, as if injured, tail, which soon seemed about to break in 
 several places. In just one month it was nearly severed within 
 an inch of the body, and next day was off. Five weeks afterwards 
 sloughing took place, and then, within the contracted scales of 
 the stump, appeared the first indication of a new tail. In three 
 more weeks (August i6th) the new point was a quarter of an inch 
 long, looking exactly like the lead of a freshly cut pencil showing 
 beyond the cedar, but quite smooth, soft, and pliant, and with no 
 appearance of scales. The autumn being sunless and chilly the 
 lizard ceased to feed, and, being feeble from the first, dwindled 
 and died before the winter set in, and before the tail had made 
 much progress. During four months it had attained only half 
 an inch in length, having no indication of scales, and being 
 still lead-coloured and smooth. In another lizard, a healthy 
 Agilis, a portion of whose tail was nipped off by a com- 
 panion in mistake for a worm, the renewal was much more rapid. 
 In about the same time the new point was one inch long, and 
 was beginning to show indications of a scaly surface. Several 
 more months elapsed before the perfect scales appeared, though 
 the point had ceased to grow, and was still soft and pliant. There- 
 fore, should the bony skeleton be restored, it would be only after 
 
84 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 a long interval; but in captivity reptiles seldom live long enough 
 to permit of accurate observations. A slow-worm (" Blackie," 
 p 458 of "Snakes") which I caught on "The Common" at 
 Bournemouth, had barely half the usual length of tail. Several 
 inches of it must have got broken off, leaving a very blunt point 
 which had become perfectly healed and rounded, but presented 
 no signs of growing any longer. Nor did I see any change in it 
 during the four months that it survived. There is still much to 
 be studied and observed in reptile life, and I trust some of my 
 readers may feel induced to afford these interesting pets a place 
 in their vivarium. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ANGUIS FRAGILIS. 
 
 Class, REPTILIA. Order, Lacertilia. Family, Anguidce. 
 Genus, Anguis. Species, fragilis. 
 
 THIS little reptile obtains its family name from its snake-like form, 
 without any trace of limbs externally, and there are a great many 
 of the group in various parts of the world. It has no broad, 
 ventral scutce as in snakes, its scales being alike all round ; neither 
 has it any palate teeth, but the jaws are toothed. The scales are 
 close set, of a roundish form, and very smooth ; in length it 
 averages twelve to fourteen or fifteen inches. Its colour, though 
 almost uniform, varies in each individual, with the exception of 
 several rows of very small darker spots down the sides of the 
 body, and a faint dark line down the back ; but these markings 
 are too feeble to interfere with the predominating colour, which 
 is mostly of a silvery, brownish-grey, or olive tint, darker or lighter. 
 The one mentioned in the last chapter was so black that no 
 markings were distinguishable ; in the lighter ones they are plainer, 
 and so on. There was a so-called " white " slow- worm at the 
 Zoological Gardens a few years ago : but, like the " white " viper, 
 it was of a pale, dingy, pinkish hue; and as its eyes were also 
 pink, one may call it an albino, with a general deficiency of the 
 colouring pigment in its skin. In the male the tail is quite as 
 long, often longer than the body, and in the female the body 
 exceeds the tail in length ; so that it is not difficult to distinguish 
 the sexes. But when the tail is very much shorter than the body, 
 it has probably lost an inch or so. It is very common to say that 
 the slow-worm breaks in "halves;" a figure of speech arising 
 from the fact of its having a long tail, as it is only this latter that 
 breaks, never the body, of course. It is a most gentle, timid little 
 creature, fear causing it to contract its muscles to such an extent 
 that it becomes brittle, and requires the most careful handling. 
 You will feel it tightening itself round your fingers, which it does 
 for safety, and from fear of falling when in a strange situation ; 
 
86 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 and if at such times you endeavour forcibly to unwind it, the 
 chances are a portion of its tail, which is in a measure prehensile, 
 will break off. When accustomed to be held it does not contract 
 itself so persistently, but twines in and about the fingers, some- 
 
 Fig. 29. Anguis fragilis in a knot. From life by the author. 
 
 times getting itself into a very pretty knot, out of which it glides 
 when placed on the table, in an extremely interesting manner (fig. 29). 
 The ribs of Anguis fragilis are very numerous and very fine. By 
 means of these it appears to glide, as snakes do ; but you can detect 
 no action in them ; and the quiet sliding, gliding progression of the 
 little creature is very wonderful . Silent, and with no effort, scarcely 
 causing movement in a blade of grass or a spray of moss as it 
 penetrates below that with which its cage is furnished. Its habits 
 are to burrow, and the moment it is released from your hand 
 down it goes into its mossy floor. Worms are, I think, its 
 favourite food, but it takes flies, caterpillars, slugs, and many 
 small things ; and, like the Batrachians, will seize them only when 
 they move, as if it did not recognise them when motionless. 
 It drinks freely, and must always have a pan of clean water in 
 its home. It is very curious and interesting to watch it throw 
 out its bifid tongue to drink, to lap really, which it will do a great 
 number of times in succession, with its neck raised and curved, and 
 its pretty head bent down in a very graceful fashion. The head 
 of Anguis is covered with plates in symmetrical arrangement, each 
 pair, or single median scale, having its own name, as in snakes and 
 other lizards. Though without limbs externally, A. fragilis has 
 vestiges of sternum, shoulder bones, and pelvis, as if its remote 
 ancestors were in possession of limbs, but which had become 
 obsolete from disuse ; and indeed, these limbless lizards are 
 never at a loss, the easy effortless progression of A. fragilis being 
 one of the most marvellous in reptile physiology. And its perse- 
 verance in climbing and in getting to the top of its cage surpasses 
 even that of the toad. My slow-worms inhabited a bell-shaped 
 bowl a few inches higher or deeper than their own length. In 
 order to reach the edge of this, they raised themselves against the 
 
ANGUIS FRAGILIS. 87 
 
 side, often falling and beginning again until on the merest tip of 
 their tail they rested. Not " tip-toe " they stood, but as nearly 
 like it as possible. Even then a good deal of time and patience 
 were requisite before they could stretch themselves sufficiently to 
 get their he'ad upon the edge (because they might sink on the 
 sand and moss), but this accomplished they would draw them- 
 selves up and over, and so down on the other side. Space forbids 
 any lengthened history of my many tame slow-worms, but as pets 
 they are most cordially recommended. Clean, quiet, gentle, 
 harmless, and easily managed, they will be found most interesting 
 and yes, I may truthfully say, intelligent too, as they evidently 
 profited by experience in climbing and in mastering the covering 
 of net made sure by an elastic band. That they are not " blind " 
 their pretty bright eyes declare. The reputation of blindness 
 probably arose from their being found with closed eyes when hiber- 
 nating in company with snakes, whose open eyes would present 
 a contrast. Nor are they " deaf," as I took great pains to ascertain 
 by various experiments, until " Lizzie " (the slow-worm who was 
 longest under tuition) learned to recognise certain sounds mad^ 
 to attract her attention, and the peculiar intonation of voice used 
 to her only ; and these from across the room were persisted in 
 until she looked round. Other experiments, and much more 
 about the slow-worms have been recorded elsewhere, and perhaps 
 read by some of our young collectors ; and the limits of this 
 little book demand that one must hasten on to the great herpeto- 
 logical event of the year 1886, viz., the discovery of the third eye 
 in lizards. 
 
 Through this the poor despised " slow-worm," " blind worm," 
 " deaf adder," with all its misnomers, has become a very distin- 
 guished little reptile ; for in it was the discovery first made. We 
 must not here attempt more than a glance at this remarkable 
 organ which is now found to exist in various stages of develop- 
 ment in many vertebrate animals. It affords another illustration 
 of the principle of progressive development described in Chapter 
 VII. Eyes, like other organs, had their beginnings. As we saw an 
 incipient backbone in the Tunicate tadpole, and an " eye-spot of 
 complicated, lens-like structure," a half-ossified sternum and skull 
 in some of the Batrachians, and so forth, so there are incipient 
 eyes, single eyes, improved eyes, and perfect eyes in the various 
 sub-kingdoms. Some enable the animal merely to distinguish 
 light from darkness, yet these are an advance on no eyes at all, 
 as in the lowest forms. 
 
 This " median eye," so called from its central position, is also 
 called a " parietal eye," being connected with the parietal bone 
 
88 REPTILES AND BATRACHIAKS. 
 
 of the skull ; " and a pineal eye " from its connection with the 
 pineal gland situated in the brain ; and the strange part about it is 
 that while a pair of perfect eyes have been subsequently developed 
 and are in use, this buried organ seems never to have advanced 
 beyond those found in the invertebrate groups, presenting, as 
 Von Henri de Graaf at first described it, " the important example 
 of the two kinds of eyes being present in the same animal." In 
 Anguis fragilis the organ is too deeply embedded to be affected 
 even by light ; but in the New Zealand lizard, Hatter ia, or 
 Sphenodon punctatus, de Graaf found a well-marked nerve con- 
 nected with the brain. The very interesting subject has been enthu- 
 siastically taken up by many biologists, and the results of their 
 labours introduce wonders almost daily. In England Professor 
 Baldwin Spencer, late of the Oxford University Museum, who has 
 been examining all the lizards alive or dead that can be got at, 
 and also fossil remains, shows us that in some lizards the eye is so 
 near the surface that its functional power is even possible ; and 
 from America we hear of one, the " common pine-tree lizard," 
 in which the organ is so well developed that " it may possibly 
 still serve to warn its owner of the advent of daylight." 
 
 In Anguis fragilis Prof. J. Beard (see p. 43) finds the parietal 
 eye to vary in size and distinctness, though so deeply embedded 
 as to preclude the idea of its being affected with light. In some 
 lizards at the Zoological Gardens you may detect the spot where 
 this eye exists, though without a powerful magnifier nothing 
 more than the external scale, often transparent, can be seen. In 
 our two little British lizards, forming the subject of the following 
 chapter, we will presume on the existence of this median eye. 
 What has been said of other kinds suffices for the scope of this 
 work. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE LIZARDS. 
 
 Order, LACERTILIA. Family, Lacertidce. Genus, Lacerta. 
 Species, agilis. 
 
 THUS far, with the exception of the viper, the members of my 
 reptilian family have been represented as such amiable individuals 
 that my readers may suspect me of undue partiality; a charge 
 which they will retract on their own personal acquaintance with 
 the subjects in question. Bell records a case of the slow- 
 worm turning to bite any one who touched it, and even clinging 
 with its teeth. Well, but for the way in which slow-worms snap 
 at their food when feeding, one might have almost doubted their 
 capability of biting. It is true that mine underwent no dental 
 examination; nor were they subject to any rougher handling than 
 might be bestowed on other such brittle ware ; to retreat and to 
 burrow was the only impulse they betrayed. But now, truth 
 compels me to affirm that the male Laceria agilis at once 
 displayed an aggressive viciousness of temper that would be 
 deplorable were it not ridiculous. He not only turned to bite 
 whenever approached, but held on to the finger so persistently as 
 to be carried about the house on exhibition thus pendent. His 
 feeble little jaws could, of course, inflict no injury ; therefore, his 
 spiteful efforts to grip the harder whenever touched, as he thus 
 hung, were simply laughable, reminding one of the fly on the 
 bull's horn, only lacking the fly's polite apologies. If he happened 
 to grip a fleshy part of the hand you might afterwards almost 
 count the number of his teeth, from the two little rows of in- 
 dentations, like a \f. The skin was never penetrated. To do 
 him justice this temper lasted only a few days ; and very soon he 
 was the tamest of the family, which, at that time, consisted of 
 himself and two ladies agilis, and five of Z. zootica. In colour 
 he was of a fine peacock green, darker above, and of a lighter 
 and beautiful tint beneath ; his throat almost white, but with that 
 greenish iridescence. Four examples of these male Lacertas from 
 
90 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 the Bournemouth Commons, which at various times have been 
 members of the family, were all of this decided green, lighter or 
 darker, and with the markings showing variously ; and all of a 
 beautiful creamy green beneath, with the white throat. The head 
 was darker and duller, but the head scales did not always come off 
 at the regular sloughing, and towards winter the colours were less 
 vivid. I think the fact of the male agilis being often green, and 
 of a stouter form than the female, may have given rise to the 
 impression that the true L. viridis is found in England. And 
 very probably it may sometimes be met with, as an escaped pet ; 
 but it is certainly not indigenous ; though it possibly may become 
 more acclimated in the southern counties. Comparing the two 
 closely a wide difference is seen to exist between them. 
 
 Not only in colour and markings, but in length of tail, Z. agilis 
 varies, the latter circumstance being probably due to an accident, 
 as the tail easily breaks. The head of the male is larger and 
 broader than that of the female, and his shape is altogether less 
 elegant. 
 
 The diversity in the form of the scales is remarkable in these 
 lizards as compared with those of the slow-worm. Large plates 
 cover the head ; a few border the chin and jaws beneath, the 
 intermediate space to the neck being covered with extremely fine 
 scales ; then, forming a distinct collar, is a row of scalloped- 
 shaped scales ; and from these to the tail are small scales on the 
 back, and large ventral scuta beneath. On the tail quite another 
 arrangement appears in successive whorls, finer and finer to the 
 tapering tip. The whorled scales on the tail are common to 
 many lizards. 
 
 In the cast-off cuticle all these variations are very distinct ; on 
 the limbs also the scales vary, those above being finer than the 
 under ones, and those on fingers and toes extremely fine, the 
 whole coming off like a tiny and perfect glove. Though the 
 body of the cuticle was generally cast entire with sleeves, etc., the 
 tail in all three of my Z. agilis seemed to possess an independent 
 mode of sloughing. Having carefully preserved the cast-off 
 raiment of the whole family, with dates and particulars of each 
 sloughing, I am able to record a few particulars, chiefly concern- 
 ing the green one, who had a new coat to his tail only in May, the 
 first change since his arrival in April ; and not until 3oth of June 
 he cast the rest of his garment, in remnants. In forty-two days, 
 namely, on August nth, he had an entire new coat, tail and all ; 
 only the head shields came off irregularly ; and during the 6th and 
 yth of September he again cast the cuticle, and in a very singular 
 fashion. Though the lizards, like other reptiles, might be seen 
 
THE LIZARDS. 91 
 
 rubbing their jaws and head, and crawling in and out among the 
 moss, indicating that sloughing was about to occur, the- operation 
 was less regular in these than in A.fragilis, or the newts. On this 
 occasion the cuticle of "GreenieV eyelids first peeled, sticking 
 out like ears' all day, which did not seem to concern him at all. 
 Next his collar grew ragged, and his jaws, in which untidy state 
 he ate a large fly and a caterpillar. Next day he went about in 
 ragged gloves, and lastly, when his coat was nearly off, he enjoyed 
 his usual amusement of trying to scratch a hole through the glass, 
 apparently indifferent to the fact that for some hours he was 
 dragging about his bound-down legs and tail round which clung 
 the remains of his old coat. Sloughing did not appear to 
 interfere with his diet or occupations in any way. These little 
 lizards often use only the fore legs, the others dragging inactively. 
 The largest agilis, a very handsome female, also changed three 
 times during the summer, viz., on July i6th, August 4th, and 
 partially towards the end of October, at which time she was too 
 feeble to move about, and the process was of several weeks' dura- 
 tion, a few scales at a time. In August she had got away, and 
 was lost for three days, when she was found on the balcony of a 
 house several doors off. She had fallen out of the window, and 
 was brought home in an exhausted condition, the nights having 
 been cold. She ceased to feed from that time, and gradually 
 declined, dying in November. The third Agilis, the one who 
 had lost her tail (p. 83), changed only twice during the summer. 
 July 2oth, while she was on a few weeks' visit to the Zoological 
 Gardens, and again in about six weeks irregularly. The July 
 sloughing I did not witness, but in September, though faint indica- 
 tions of scales appeared on the inch of new tail, no cuticle of that 
 part was cast, the slough ending abruptly and looking as if it had 
 been cut off at the stump. 
 
 L. agilis, commonly known as the sand lizard, is about seven 
 inches long when grown. Its markings the three rows of spots 
 with white centres down its back render it easily distinguishable 
 even when young, from the smaller lizard whose colours are less 
 bright. It is found on sandy heaths, and is very frequently met 
 with in Hampshire and Dorsetshire. 
 
 The female scratches a hole in the sand as a nest for her eggs, 
 and lays a dozen or more, which have a thin, coriaceous envelope. 
 She is not generally accredited with much maternal affection, but 
 those who have watched her attentively consider injustice is done 
 her in this respect. I have reason to think that all three of the 
 English lizards possess rather strong maternal instincts. Re- 
 garding Lacerta viridis, also, Mr. Jenner Weir told me of one in 
 
92 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS. 
 
 his possession who displayed not only vigilance and care for her 
 eggs, but considerable wiliness in secreting them. The spot 
 where she had laid them being discovered, she being there, 
 hastily retreated, but presently returned and scratched the peat 
 over them till hidden by a little mound ; then continued day after 
 day to visit the spot and bask on the mound ; but as if conscious 
 of being watched, would never do anything to betray the place 
 while any one was near. 
 
 THE COMMON LIZARD (Lacerta vivipard). 
 
 It is generally conceded that the specific name Agilis, given to 
 the sand lizard, is a rather unfair inference that it is the more 
 active of the two. Nimble it undoubtedly is; but in alertness, 
 swiftness, and agility, the little Vivipara can scarcely find a rival. 
 Supple as if they were boneless, if you do succeed in catching one, 
 to retain it in your hand without risk of injury is almost impossible. 
 Secure, as one thinks, in the tightly closed hand, it finds escape 
 where least expected. If its head be thumb wards, it will turn in 
 some marvellous fashion and make instantaneous exit at the 
 fourth finger, or between the fingers, however close together. As 
 well try to manage and restrain a stream of quicksilver. And the 
 Viviparas are more shy of being touched than the sand lizards, 
 which will remain in the hand in seeming enjoyment as long as 
 you please to keep them there. One of my five Viviparas, more 
 elusive than the rest, and much disliking to be handled, would 
 watch me through the glass, and if she saw me coming would 
 disappear among the moss, when to find her was impossible, 
 unless spray by spray were taken out; so swiftly did she flit 
 among it, without disturbing a feather. Sometimes you might 
 discern one bright eye on the look out for the enemy ; eye and 
 owner vanishing utterly at a hand ever so cautiously approaching. 
 I half suspected sometimes as much frolic as fear in this game 
 of hide-and-seek. Her bird-like look and her manner of eyeing 
 one with her head on one side gained for her the name of 
 " Birdie." Many physiological features in both lizards, especially 
 in the smaller species, disclose their relationship to birds. 
 
 It is unnecessary to describe the various sloughings in detail, 
 as for the most part they occurred in the same manner as in agilis, 
 the head shields and tail cuticle seldom coming off with the body 
 part, which was generally entire, and beginning at the straight 
 collar. In two of the viviparous lizards that died in July the 
 sloughing had begun, but they had not strength to work off the 
 old cuticle, having ceased to feed for some weeks. Birdie changed 
 four times during the summer; the first change, June 24-26, 
 
TJJE JylZJARpS.^^^ ^f \ /* 93 
 
 producing a surprising transformation in the little creature. The 
 old garment of the previous year was so dingy as to show barely 
 any colour or pattern, when suddenly she appeared in pale delicate 
 sage-green, with stripes as dense as black velvet, the throat creamy- 
 white, and the belly of a very pale buff colour ; the whole of a 
 satiny softness, and shaded like a delicate shell. These colours 
 were retained during the summer, only becoming a trifle duller 
 and darker. Her second change was in twenty-four days, July 
 2oth ; the third in nineteen days, August 8th, and again in thirteen 
 days, August 2ist. August was very warm that year (1881), and 
 the bell glass in which they lived stood in a sunny window during 
 the hottest part of the day, which possibly induced the frequent 
 sloughings. The markings in Vivipara are less conspicuous than 
 in Agilis, having no white on the upper surface. There is a thin, 
 jagged black line down the middle of the back, and a broad 
 irregular stripe on each side of it, with a few faint spots in the 
 intervening spaces ; the under colours being very light in the 
 female, and of a warm yellowish or crimson tint in the male. In 
 character the scales are nearly similar to those of Agilis ; but in 
 form Vivipara is more slender and graceful, with a smaller, flatter 
 head, and more pointed snout. 
 
 Zootica, the generic name by which it has been generally known, 
 and its specific Vivipara^ have the same signification, viz., pro- 
 ducing live young, which constitutes the principal difference 
 between the two species. As being more frequent, the smaller 
 one is known as the "common lizard," and is found as far north 
 as Scotland, and even in Ireland. It is accredited with the same 
 maternal instinct as the viper in affording refuge to its young in 
 its own oesophagus in times of danger. Several well-authenticated 
 instances of this are recorded, and it is desirable that renewed 
 observations may tend to throw more light on the occurrence. 
 
 These little lizards require a frequent change of diet, or as 
 much variety as can be procured, because, in their natural state, 
 they catch any insects, caterpillars, etc., that may be in season. 
 In the early part of summer flies were taken eagerly ; but flies, 
 when caught, require to have their activity somewhat restricted, 
 and worms are often of an inconvenient size ; so there are some 
 rather painful drawbacks in keeping carnivorous pets. After a 
 time all, including Anguis fragilis, would eat no more flies. 
 Some instinct must have guided them in this ; and it occurred to 
 me that while flies were depositing eggs they might be obnoxious, 
 or even dangerous to the lizards as food ; but this is only supposi- 
 titious on my part. Caterpillars, if the smooth kind, were pounced 
 upon quickly. Centipedes none of the family would eat; and if 
 
94 \\ t S?1'ILES AND 3ATRACHIANS. 
 
 inadvertently one was swallowed it was quickly reproduced. 
 Spiders all caught eagerly ; but it is by no means easy to furnish 
 a variety of food to fastidious lizards. The worms retreated 
 below, and got unhealthy in the moist sand, and the lizards would 
 take only fresh food. Meal worms and other unpleasant bait 
 purchased at the fishing-tackle shops offered a change for a time, 
 but soon satiated. Pets, of whatever kinds, demand frequent and 
 systematic attention, without which captivity is great cruelty. 
 But persons who have access to gardens, or who live out of town 
 and can afford ample space for these interesting little animals, 
 will find their care of them amply repaid. There is still so much 
 to observe and to verify about reptiles ; for, as will have been 
 seen in the perusal of these pages, much difference of opinion has 
 prevailed and still prevails, regarding size, colour, habits, food, 
 intelligence, and many physiological functions. 
 
 And as regards intelligence, the lizards rajik much higher than 
 the Batrachians, especially the newts. Their manner of watching, 
 and of hiding, even of biting, as an instinct of self-preservation, 
 and afterwards ceasing to do this, as if having gained experience, 
 indicates something nearer to reason than frogs and salamanders 
 ever display. To hurry-skurry away and hide is the only impulse 
 of the latter, who on no provocation attempt to bite. Nor must 
 it be forgotten that the little L. vivipara bit and hung on to my 
 finger with its tiny jaws as persistently as its larger relative, until 
 it ceased to be alarmed at humanity generally. 
 
 Printed by Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury. 
 
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