SALAMANDERS. 359 
will even replace a lost head. This feat I have not witnessed, and 
do not expect I ever shall. 
These Batrachians are very interesting, and owing to the 
manner of their life and consequent difficulties of observation, a 
great deal still remains to be learnt concerning their habits. 
Most of them undergo their metamorphosis after they have left 
the egg, e.g., the Common Newt (Molge vulgaris), but others com- 
plete the process before their existence is separated from that of 
the parent, e.y., the Black Salamander (Salamandra atra). A 
‘few break the envelope of the egg in which they have been con- 
fined directly the egg has been deposited, e.y., the Spotted 
Salamander (S. maculosw). Some die if born in the water, e.g., 
S. atra, and others die if born on the land, e.g., S. maculosa. 
The tadpoles of all the species have a great resemblance to each 
other, and unlike those of Frogs and Toads produce the fore limbs 
before they produce the hind ones. 
The Caudata number about 120 species. Since they are found 
in the Northern» Hemisphere—for example, in Europe, temperate 
Asia, North Africa, and North and Central America—and are 
altogether absent from the Southern Hemisphere, their geographi- 
cal distribution is certainly curious and interesting. They are 
divided into the four following families: (1) Salamandride, (2) 
Amphiumide, (3) Proteide, and (4) Sirenide. 
The Spotted Salamander (Salamandra maculosa, Fig. 87) is 
very common over nearly the whole of Kurope and in Northern 
Africa. I have often heard people who have been looking at my 
specimens of this species exclaim, ‘‘ Oh! isn’t that the beast which 
can pass unharmed through fire, and even put it out,” or similar 
words. Poor thing! it can do nothing of the kind. I should 
imagine that few animals could dread the fire more. The heat of 
one’s hands seems to distress this Batrachian. 
The fable concerning the Salamander’s power over fire is a very 
old one indeed. Pliny, the elder, who died in a.p. 79, says in 
his famous Natural History, that he tested the animal’s supposed 
capability, and found that the creature was soon burnt to powder 
when thrown into a fire. And yet the fable still lives and is 
believed in! It is reported that Francois I. of France adopted “ a 
lizard in the midst of flames ” as his badge, with the inscription‘ 
