390 THE VIVARIUM. 
Axolotls soon become quite tame, and are intelligent enough to 
know their fosterer. In colour, roughly speaking, they are either 
black or white. The white ones are beautiful, and used to be 
very rare, but now they are so common that nice specimens may 
be bought in Covent Garden for a few shillings. The eggs of the 
Axolotl, in the season, may also be purchased there. 
Axolotls, like Newts, have the power of reproducing lost limbs. 
The Axolotl, orlarva of A. tigrinwm (Fig. 97), has four pairs of 
gill slits and three pairs of external branchive ; a cylindrical body ; 
a broad flat head; a large straight-edged fin which runs along the 
back and tail and round the end of and under the latter, termi- 
nating ventrally at the anus; four short legs, the fore-limbs 
possessing four toes, and the hind ones five, all of which are 
furnished with web-like appendages; and distinct costal grooves. 
It sometimes grows to a length of about 10in. 
The Amblystome, or transformed Axolotl (Amblystoma tigri- 
num, Fig. 98), has a large flat head with broad rounded snout ; 
stout body and limbs, short fingers, and toes depressed and 
pointed; a tail about as long as the head and body, com- 
pressed, keeled towards the end, which ends in a point; a shining, 
finely granulated skin; large, flat parotoids, and twelve distinct 
costal grooves. The colour above is black or dark brown, marked 
with yellow spots; the animal is of a lighter shade underneath. 
The entire length is from 8in. to 10m. There are about seven- 
teen species in the genus Amblystoma. 
