There are five large groups of backboned animals on earth today. They are the amphibians, birds, fishes, reptiles and mammals. This How and Why Wonder Book deals with two of these groups—amphibians and reptiles.

Which snakes are poisonous and which ones are not? This seems to be an endlessly interesting question to most people. Equally interesting are the fantastic superstitions and misbeliefs about snakes. This book deals with both of these topics. It tells which snakes are poisonous and which ones are not. It tells about many of the common superstitions and provides correct information about them. In addition, it tells many other interesting things about amphibians and reptiles, such as their eating habits, how they protect themselves and how they move.

In the Space Age there is no lesser need for people with knowledge about all plant and animal life. This interesting and informative book on reptiles and amphibians may stimulate a potential young scientist to select herpetology (the study of reptiles) as his major field of interest.

Youthful herpetologists who wish to learn about the habits of reptiles by close observation will be glad to know that several of the reptiles make good pets. This How and Why Wonder Book tells which ones may easily be kept as pets and gives suggestions for collecting and keeping them.

From the introduction