I I 6 URODELA 



CHAP. 



length are giants. Head as broad as it is long, snout rounded. 



Limbs and digits stout and short. The skin is smooth, 

 shiny and full of pores, with a strong gular fold. The parotoid 

 glands are large and covered with large pores. A series of distinct 

 swellings, or cutaneous glands, each with a distinct opening, 

 extends along either side of the back, and a shorter series along 

 the flanks. The general colour of the Spotted or Fire-salamander 

 is black, with irregular, large yellow patches on the back and 

 limbs. These markings vary extremely, so much so that scarcely 

 two specimens, collected at random, are alike. In some the 

 yellow patches form two more or less regular bands, in others 

 they are partly confluent ; again the yellow may be preponderant 

 on the back or much restricted. Occasionally the chrome- 

 yellow is replaced by orange. The under surface is as a rule 

 bluish grey-black. This combination of shiny yellow and black 

 is a good instance of warning colours. The creature is 

 poisonous, cf p. 38. When left in peace, or handled gently, 

 it is perfectly harmless, but when treated with violence, or 

 submitted to severe pain, a milky white fluid exudes from 

 the glands and is, under violent contractions of the muscular 

 skin and body, sometimes squirted out in fine jets to the distance 

 of a foot. Burning pain and subsequent inflammation result if 

 this poison gets into the eye. The same applies to the mucous 

 lining of the mouth and throat. A few drops of this poison 

 introduced into the blood or into the stomach of a small animal 

 are sufticient to cause its death. Cold-blooded animals are as 

 susceptible as warm-blooded creatures. 



I once put two American bull-frogs into the same outdoor en- 

 closure witli a large number of salamanders. Next morning the 

 huge frogs were found dead, each having swallowed a salamander, 

 which they were not acquainted with and liad taken without 

 suspicion. 



The Fire-salamander has a wide range, namely the whole of 

 Central, Southern, and Western Europe with the exception of 

 the British Isles. It extends southwards into Corsica and 

 Algeria, eastwards through Asia Minor into Syria. Where 

 it does occur it is rather common, provided the terrain is 

 mountainous or hilly and covered with vegetation. Tliere it lives 

 under moss or rotten leaves, in the roots of old trees, in the 

 cracks and clefts of the ground, of rocks or of ruins of buildings ; 



