CHAPTER XVII. 
FISH-LIKE SALAMANDERS, OLMS, &c. 
S the following very interesting Batrachians are almost 
A entirely aquatic in their habits they should be kept in 
Vivaria which are provided with a considerable quantity 
of water, and to which they can have easy access: for example, 
in such cases as those which are represented by Figs. 10, 12, 23, 
or in any ordinary fresh-water aquarium. 
The Amphiumide, or, as they are sometimes called, the Fishlike 
Salamanders, are chiefly distinguished from the Salamandride by 
the want of eyelids. Although they lose their gills during 
metamorphosis they live almost entirely in the water. This 
family (Amphiumide) is divided into three genera—Meyualoba- 
trachus, Cryptobranchus, and Amphiuma, which contain altogether 
only four species. 
The Gigantic Salamander (Megalobatrachus maximus) is the 
largest of all existing Batrachians, measuring when fully grown 
about 4ft. in length, and weighing nearly 50lb. It is the living 
representative of the fossil Salamander of (Eningen, in Basle, 
Switzerland, the remains of which when found in the Upper 
Miocene beds were regarded by Dr. Scheuchzer, in 1726, as those 
of a man buried by the flood, and consequently received the name 
Homo diluvii testis. 
The Gigantic Salamander was discovered in Japan by Dr. D. 
Siebold in the year 1820. Since that time it has been found in 
