3. The =Polyps= are the only many-celled animals having a single opening
into the body, serving for both mouth and vent. They are radiate in
structure, and usually possess tentacles.
4. The =Echinoderms= are marine animals of more or less radiate
appearance, having a food tube in the body separate from the body wall.
The following groups are plainly bilateral: that is, dorsal and ventral
surfaces, front and hind ends are different.
5. The =Vermes= have usually a segmented body but lack jointed legs.
6. The =Arthropods=[3] have an external skeleton and jointed legs.
Footnote 3:
Insects and crustaceans.
7. The =Molluscs= have soft bodies, no legs, no skeleton, but usually a
limy shell.
8. The =Vertebrates= have an internal skeleton of bones, and usually two
pairs of legs.
[Illustration:
FIG. 247.—A SNAIL. (Which branch? Why?)
]
CHAPTER XI
BATRACHIA
The theory of evolution teaches that animal life began in a very simple
form in the sea, and that afterward the higher sea animals lost their
gills and developed lungs and legs and came out to live upon the land;
truly a marvellous procedure, and incredible to many, although the
process is repeated every spring in countless instances in pond and
brook.
In popular language, every cold-blooded vertebrate breathing with lungs
is called a reptile. The name reptile is properly applied only to
lizards, snakes, turtles, and alligators. The common mistake of speaking
of frogs and salamanders as reptiles arises from considering them only
in their adult condition. Reptiles hatch from the egg as tiny reptiles
resembling the adult forms; frogs and salamanders, as every one knows,
leave the egg in the form of tadpoles (Fig. 248). The fact that frogs
and salamanders begin active life as fishes, breathing by gills, serves
to distinguish them from other cold-blooded animals, and causes
naturalists to place them in a separate class, called batrachia (twice
breather) or amphibia (double life).
TADPOLES
SUGGESTIONS.—Tadpoles may be studied by placing a number of frog’s
eggs in a jar of water, care being taken not to place a large number
of eggs in a small amount of water. When they hatch, water plants
(_e.g._ green algæ) should be added for food. The behaviour of frogs
may be best studied in a tub of water. A toad in captivity should be
given a cool, moist place, and fed well. A piece of meat placed near a
toad may attract flies, and the toad may be observed while catching
them, but the motion is so swift as to be almost imperceptible. Live
flies may be put into a glass jar with a toad. Toads do not move about
until twilight, except in cloudy, wet weather. They return to ponds
and brooks in spring at the time for laying eggs. This time for both
frogs and toads is shown by trilling. All frogs, except tree frogs,
remain in or near the water all the year.
[Illustration:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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