NEWTS AND SALAMANDERS 
137 
deposit tlieir eggs. The tiger salamander is variable in 
colour. Generally of a dark brown, it is marked with 
irregular yellow blotches, and is commonly met with under 
stones and in decayed hollow trees. At the time when the 
Spanish conquerors landed in Mexico, the natives were in 
the habit of eating roasted or boiled fresh-water creatures, 
which they called “ axolotls.” It is now known that these 
axolotls are nothing but the larval forms of the tiger sala¬ 
mander, which is found from Mexico to the city of New York. 
Under certain conditions, the larva, instead of losing its gills 
and turning into the terrestrial salamander, retains them, 
and continues its existence in the medium in which it was 
born, growing into a creature somewhat resembling the hell¬ 
bender, and breeding without leaving the water. 
The genus Amblystoma is almost confined to Mexico, the 
United States and Canada. Only one species (A. persimile), 
which most resembles Amblystoma jeffersonianum of the eastern 
States and Canada, inhabits the far distant mountains of Siam 
and Upper Burmah. This represents, therefore, another 
example of that curious relationship between eastern North 
America and Asia. In this case, however, it is with southern 
instead of eastern Asia, while the genus in North America occurs 
in the south-west as well as in the eastern States. 
Several smaller kinds of newts have been observed in 
the eastern States. Among them there are several belong¬ 
ing to the genus Spelerpes, which are worthy of special com¬ 
ment. They all display remarkably brilliant colours, and 
these make them more attractive than salamanders usually 
are. Quite apart from this feature, their method of feeding 
is interesting to watch. Like chameleons, they possess an 
enormously long tongue, ending in a soft sticky knob, which 
is shot out of the mouth with extreme rapidity at any insect 
coming within range and likely to be a dainty morsel. About 
twenty species of Spelerpes are known to science, the head¬ 
quarters of the genus being in Mexico. Dr. Gadow* dis¬ 
covered several of them at considerable heights. Spelerpes 
orizabensis and S. leprosus ascend to 12,000 feet, and S. 
chiropterus to 10,000 feet, above sea-level. 
Gradow, H., “ Mexican Amphibians and Reptiles,” p. 203. 
