[67] In the spring the common toad takes to the water and there sings loudly. The loud continuous trill that we hear in swamps in springtime is made by toads, not by frogs, as is commonly supposed. LESSON XXXIII. THE SALAMANDERS. “The rarest things with wayward will Beneath the covert hide them still; The rarest things to break of day Look shortly forth, and hie away.” --JOANNA BAILLIE. Frogs and toads belong to the class Batrachia, a division of vertebrates which stands intermediate between fishes and reptiles, partaking in the different stages of their lives of some of the characteristics of both these classes. The eggs of batrachians are generally laid in water or damp places, and the young breathe, not through lungs but through gills. To the class Batrachia belong not only frogs and toads, but sirens, mud-fish, “water-dogs,” and salamanders, all of which are interesting animals. Among them there is a species of salamander which is distinguished from all other batrachians, because its young ones are born alive. I remember reading when I was a child, of a very remarkable beast called a salamander, which could live in fire; and one of my books had a thrilling description of one of these little animals which had come forth from a burning log in the midst of a blaze, and ran cheerfully about in the flames, sporting and enjoying itself. This myth of the superiority of the salamander to fire is wide-spread and ancient. It is a common saying that a person who is not easily affected by heat is “a perfect salamander.” The stories of some old-time naturalists about the salamanders are amusing. We are told that the creature can not only live in fire, but is born in it; that passing through a fire it extinguishes it; that smiths finding the forge fires going out, always knew that a salamander was playing therein, and mended the fire by killing the animal. Another myth was that the salamander was the most poisonous of all creatures; if it crawled over a person’s foot that person’s entire body was poisoned, the hair fell out, and lingering death was the result; wood, over which a salamander had crept was poisonous; the creature’s breath was a deadly poison. Some thought the animal wore hair, others that it wore feathers or fur, but all agreed that cloth woven of its coat was fire-proof. Belief in these fantastic stories long survived.