Reptiles and Batracians.

Mr. Garman delivered the last of the lectures in the course of the Natural History Society last night. The subject of the lecture was "The Reptiles and Batracians of New England." Mr. Garman spoke as follows:

Some people claim that a better name for batracians would be amphibians, or animals which live on land or water. The first appearance of the batracians comes in 1820.

New England reptiles include the tortoises, snakes and batracians but there are no lizards or crocodiles. There are about ten different species, of batrachians of which the largest is a kind of salamander. These creatures feed on animal food and lay their eggs in the water or mud.

The largest of the frogs is the bullfrog, which begins life as a tadpole. When small, they live entirely on vegetable food, but when older they devour insects, which are caught by means of their long tongues covered by a sticky fluid. There are also the spring frogs, leopard frogs, and marsh frogs, all much alike, but characterized by difficult markings. The wood frog lives on land, and is difficult to catch except when it goes to the water to lay its eggs.

During the summer the male toads stay in the water, and their peculiar note can be frequently heard. Nearly allied to the ordinary variety, is the solitary toad, which is seldom seen because it generally remains hidden under ground during the day time and only ventures out at night.

There are about eight different kinds of tortoises native to New England, and besides these several species are sometimes brought from the south by the gulf stream. These attain the length of eight feet, and weigh 1000 pounds. The snapping turtle is well known in this neighborhood where they are quite common. Except when foraging for food, they remain under water, only coming to the surface about once in an hour to breathe. They are very persistent in attacking their prey, and when they have seized a fish, they will often allow themselves to be carried about for hours. They sometimes weigh as much as fifty pounds. The musk tortoise has similar habits but is smaller. The commonest variety is the painted turtle, which is found in every pond, and have the peculiarity of losing their shells every year. The box turtle is a native of the sandy beaches along Cape Cod.

There are about a dozen different species of snakes of which the commonest is the brown snake. It is, however, seldom seen at the surface of the ground except after heavy rains. The so called hog nose snake is named for its peculiar shaped snout which is used in digging in the ground for grubs. When attacked these serpents often feign death, and do it so effectually that people have supposed that they fainted from fright. The small green snake, and the larger black snake are both well known and perfectly harmless, as is also the pugnacious checkered adder. The rarest snake of Massachusetts is the fox snake, which is much like a large adder. The water snake is quite large and often dangerous, for it will bite severely and hold on for a long time.

The only venomous snakes are the copperhead and the rattlesnake. The former is hardly as poisonous as is generally supposed, but is very ready to attack people. The rattlesnake is rather rare in New England, but each year a few are found in the Blue Hills and in the woods around Lynn. These creatures kill their prey by means of the venom which is secreted by means of a tube running to the base of their hollow teeth. These snakes cast off their skins several times each year, and every time that this occurs a rattle is added to their tails. These rattles are very fragile and easily broken off, and so the age cannot be told accurately by this means.