CHAPTER XVL 
AXOLOTLS AND AMBLYSTOMES. 
HE Axolotl (Amblystoma tigrinum, Figs. 97 and 98) is, 
I think, the most interesting and remarkable of all the 
Batrachians. ‘‘ Axolotl”’ is the name which has been 
given by the natives of Mexico to the animal when it is in its 
larval state. Im England, however, the word Axolotl is now 
Fic. 97.—THE AXOLOTL OR LARVA OF Amblystoma tigrinum. 
commonly used to describe the creature when either in its 
immature or mature condition. 
For a long time this Batrachian has been a great puzzle to 
naturalists. Formerly, it was regarded as a member of those 
genera of the Batrachia caudata, which, like the Prote/de, 
retained their external gills throughout their life, and it was 
2 ¢ 
