﻿THE TEXAN CAVE SALAMANDER. 29 



the heads of three cave salamanders of North America. The heads were sub- 

 jected to the same treatment to prepare them for photography, and photographs 

 were taken under approximately the same magnification. 



In February, 1896, the first recorded specimens of tliis species were cast up 

 from an artesian well about 190 feet deep, bored by the U. S. Fish Commission. 

 Other specimens have since been thrown up at the rate of 30 to 50 a year. 



The following notes on the habit of this cave salamander are by the late Pro- 

 fessor Norman of the University of Texas. 



Unless disturbed, the salamanders appear at all times either resting, or very 

 slowly and cautiously walking along. They move a few steps at a time, wait awhile, 

 and go again. They have no particular pose when quiet except that they always 

 rest on their 4 feet, holding themselves up from the bottom of the vessel and fre- 

 quently retaining the exact position of the legs at the moment the motion is 

 arrested. If the vessel contain, for example, watercress, they crawl in among the 

 branches and stop as when walking on firm bottom, with the legs in such a posi- 

 tion as fits easiest for ghding in among the tvidgs. 



They are never seen to move faster than a slow, easy walk, except when dis- 

 turbed by external stimuli. Then one of three methods of locomotion may follow : 

 (i) the walking speed may pass into a grotesque run by long strides and corre- 

 sponding winds of the body; or, (2) this passes into a combined movement of legs 

 and tail, the last acting as fin ; (3) at its greatest speed the legs are laid length- 

 wise against the body, and the tail only is used for locomotion. 



The legs are exceedingly slender and weak. If the animal is placed on a table 

 out of water, the body falls to the table, and at best the animal may wriggle a few 

 inches ; but in water the weight of the salamander is so Httle that the legs are 

 amply strong for its locomotion. Dr. Stejneger lost sight of this point when he 

 guessed that the animal used its tail for locomotion and its legs as feelers. He 

 stated as follows: 



Viewed in connection with the well-developed, finned swimming-tail, it can be safely assumed 

 that these extraordinarily slender and elongated legs are not used for locomotion, and the convic- 

 tion is irresistible that in the inky darkness of the subterranean waters they serve the animal as 

 feelers. 



The motion in water is, for the most part, slow and cautious, the movement 

 of the long legs being apparendy calculated to produce the least commotion in the 

 water. The motion suggests that of a cat creeping upon its prey, or the elephan- 

 tine progression of the snapping turtle. The feet are lifted high in walking, and 

 the body is kept from the bottom by the full length of the fore arm and leg. In 

 ordinary progression the body slopes from nose to tail, which drags (plate 2, fig. b). 

 The method of moving the limbs is as follows : Left hand and when this is nearly 

 ready to place, or usually when placed, the right foot. When the right foot is 

 placed, then the right hand and then the left foot. As the hand of one side is 

 not raised till the foot of the same side is placed, the enormous strides of the long- 

 legged creature cause it to step on its hand or even beyond. Its natural gait is 

 a deliberate progression by means of its feet with three feet usually on the ground. 

 Any attempt at great rapidity by this means of locomotion results in a most un- 

 dignified and futile wriggle. When going slowly, the head is held sloping upward. 

 When walking rapidly, it is held sloping down, so that the .snout is near the ground. 



