d. Unlike the frogs and toads, the Salamander
keeps its tail throughout life, and in some kinds of Salamanders which
spend all of their time in the water, the gills are used throughout
life. Salamanders have various common names, some being called newts,
others water-dogs or mud-puppies. The mud-eel and the Congo "snake" of
the Southern States, and the "hell-bender" of the Ohio valley and south
are all Salamanders. The belief that any of the Salamanders is
poisonous is a myth and has no basis in fact.

[Illustration: SPRING PEEPER

The note of this piping hyla is a welcome sound about the ponds and
swamps in early spring. Range: Eastern United States. Photograph by
Herbert Lang.]

Reptiles

Reptiles include Alligators, Crocodiles, Turtles, Lizards and Snakes. It
is commonly said that reptiles are cold-blooded. This means that the
temperature of their blood varies and is the same as the surrounding
medium. The temperature of an Alligator that has been floating with its
nose out of the water is the same as the surrounding water. The
temperature of a turtle in the winter time is the same as the mud in
which it is buried, while in the summer time it is much higher. What is
true of the reptiles in respect to temperature is also true of
Amphibians and Fishes. However, this is not true of Birds and Mammals,
for these have a uniform temperature so high that they are called
warm-blooded.

[Illustration: GILA MONSTER

So called from the Gila River in Arizona. The only member of the lizard
family known to be venomous except the very similar crust-lizard found
in Mexico. Range: Desert regions of southern Arizona and New Mexico.]

In the United States there is but one species of Alligator and but one
species of Crocodile, both limited to the Southeastern States.

There are about fifty kinds of Turtle and Tortoises in North America,
some of which live on the land and feed largely upon plants, _e. g._,
the Common Box Turtle, found from the New England States to South
Carolina and westward to Kansas, and the Gopher Tortoise of the Southern
States. Others are aquatic, like the Painted Turtles, which are found in
one form or another practically all over the United States.

Many of these reptiles are highly prized as food, _e. g._,
Diamond-backed Terrapin, Soft-shelled Turtle, Snapping Turtle and Gopher
Tortoise.

[Illustration: COMMON BOX TURTLE

Range: Eastern United States]

There are about one hundred species of Liza