=Frogs and toads are beneficial= (why?) and do not the slightest injury to any interest of man. If =toads= are encouraged to take up their abode in a garden, they will aid in ridding it of insects. A house may be made in a shady corner with four bricks, or better still, a hole a foot deep may be dug to furnish them protection from the heat of the day. A toad’s muzzle is not so tapering as a frog’s (why?), its feet are not so fully webbed (why?), and its skin is not so smooth (why?). In case of doubt open the mouth and rub the finger along the upper jaw; a frog has sharp teeth, a toad none at all. The tadpoles of frogs, toads, and salamanders are much alike. In toad’s spawn the eggs lie in strings inclosed in jelly; frogs spawn is in masses (Fig. 248). Any batrachian may easily be passed around the class after placing it in a tumbler with gauze or net tied over top. It should be kept in a box with two inches of moist earth on the bottom. If no live insects are obtainable for feeding a toad, bits of moist meat may be dangled from the end of a string. If tadpoles are placed in a pool or tub in a garden, the toads hatched will soon make destructive garden insects become a rarity. Does a frog or a =salamander= have the more primitive form of body? Why do you think so? Salamanders are sometimes called mud puppies. The absurd belief that salamanders are poisonous is to be classed with the belief that toads cause warts. The belief among the ancients that salamanders ate fire arose perhaps from seeing them coming away from fires that had been built over their holes on river banks by travelers. Their moist skin protected them until the fire became very hot. Describe the “mud puppy” shown in Fig. 262. In the West the pouched gopher, or rat (Fig. 371), is sometimes absurdly called a salamander. [Illustration: FIG. 262.--BLIND SALAMANDER (_Proteus anguinus_). × ¹⁄₂. Found in caves and underground streams in Balkans. Gills external, tail finlike, legs small.] CHAPTER XII REPTILIA (REPTILES) This =class= is divided into _four orders_ which have such marked differences of external form that there is no difficulty in distinguishing them. These orders are represented by _Lizards_, _Snakes_, _Turtles_, and _Alligators_. Of these, only the forms of lizards and alligators have similar proportions, but there is a marked difference in their size, lizards being, in general, the smallest, and alligators the largest of the reptiles. [Illustration: FIG. 263.--A SALAMANDER.] [Illustration: FIG. 264.--A LIZARD.]