174 FIRST LESSONS IN ZOOLOGY. 



rent. The most interesting of all the salamanders is the 

 Amblystoma mavortiwii, whose larva is called the Axolotl 

 (Fig. 180). This larva is larger than the adult,, which lives 

 on land, sometimes being about a third of a metre (12 

 inches) in length, the adult being twenty centimetres (8 

 inches) long. 



The axolotl, or siredon, abounds in the lakes of the 

 Eocky Mountain plateau from Montana to Mexico, from an 

 altitude of 4000 to 8000 or 9000 feet. Late in the summer 

 the siredons at Como Lake, Wyoming, where we have ob- 

 served them, transform in large numbers into the adult 

 stage, leaving the water and hiding under sticks, etc., on 



FIG. 180. Siredon or larval Salamander. 



land. Still larger numbers remain in the lake and breed 

 there. 



The change from the larva to the adult consists in the 

 absorption of the gills, which disappear in about four days ; 

 meanwhile the tail-fins begin to be absorbed, the costal 

 grooves become marked, the head grows smaller, the eyes 

 larger, more protuberant, and the third day after the gills 

 begin to be absorbed the creature becomes dark, spotted, 

 and very active and restless, leaving the water. 



Experiments show that the legs and tail of the axolotl, as 

 of other larval salamanders, may be reproduced. The larva 

 lays eggs as well as the adult salamander. 



The Tritons, or water-newts, represented by our common, 

 pretty spotted-newt (Diemyctylus viridcscens, Fig. 177), is 

 common in sluggish brooks ; it lives on insects. 



