SALAMANDERS. 361 
The Spotted Salamander is most prolific, and I have found that 
it will give birth to from nineteen to twenty-nine at one time ; 
that is, in the course of about six hours. The young should at 
once be removed to a suitable vessel containing clean soft water, 
or the old ones will be tempted to devour their offspring. They 
must not be crowded, for under such a condition they have a 
tendency, in their eagerness to feed, to seize each other's limbs, 
and even to eat one another. 
With a little care, the Tadpoles easily accomplish their meta- 
morphosis. The growth of the small Salamanders to maturity is 
very interesting to watch. The young creatures do not assume 
the beautiful colouring of their parents until they have attained 
the mature form. If the 
animals are properly cared 
for, they arrive at their full 
size when they are about three 
years old. 
The Tadpoles, at first, are 
about lin. long, of a brownish 
colour, covered with darker 
spots. They then require 
very minute food, which 
Smeanaish: ofthe, tiny. ‘1% 9 —4 CONTRIVANCE FOR PaocuniNG 
freshwatercrustaceans, known 
as Entomostraca, or ‘shelled insects,’? such as water-fleas and 
the like. These small animals can generally be procured very 
easily, as they may be found at the time the young Salamanders 
are produced, in almost any soft water—cask, tank, pool, pond, 
or slowly-running stream. 
Fig. 88 represents a very simple arrangement by which these 
small and useful inhabitants of fresh water may be procured in 
great numbers without difficulty. The contrivance, as may be 
seen from the illustration, consists of a large glass vessel (tin will 
do, but then the captures cannot be so easily observed), a funnel, 
covered with fine muslin, attached to a piece of slender india- 
rubber tubing, which is used as a siphon. The muslin is of 
course to prevent the small crustaceans from passing up the 
siphon. This arrangement of vessel and funnel is carried to some 
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