26 



particulars with the larval form of the Salamander that it 

 must in its turn be the tadpole or immature form of some 

 kindred species ; nevertheless, as the most careful search 

 failed to detect the perfect animal, Cuvier was compelled to 

 leave the Axolotl among the perennial branchiates. Natu- 

 ralists of authority relying upon the argument from analogy 

 supported Cuvier's views; others, observing that these 

 Axolotls possessed fully developed organs of reproduction, 

 insisted on their claims to be perfect animals. 



Thus stood the case when M. Dumeril found that of four 

 specimens (three male and one female) which had been 

 preserved alone for three years in the Reptile Vivarium at 

 Paris without undergoing any change, the female laid eggs, 

 which hatched and produced young like the parents. This 

 appeared to settle the question ; no larval or imperfect 

 animal (among the vertebrata, at least), had been known to 

 breed, and therefore it was said these breeding Axolotls must 

 have reached their highest state of development ; but M. 

 Dumeril thought otherwise, and, as appears, rightly- 

 Referring you to the Comptes Rendus of the French 

 Academic des Sciences for his detailed observation, I pass on 

 to give my own experience, as, though the Axolotl has been 

 reared in England by Dr. Giinther and others in ponds or 

 lakes, I believe that the development of the young so pro- 

 duced has not been watched ; while the young animals 

 hatched indoors, in aquaria, have always died at an early 

 stage from want of proper food. 



At the end of April, 1880, I was fortunate enough to pro- 

 cure a couple of these animals, one of which was apparently a 

 pregnant female, the other may have been either a male or 

 barren female for aught I know. I at once placed them out 

 of doors in a large shallow pan containing water ; but finding 

 it impossible to watch them with sufficient minuteness in 

 this position, I removed them to a bell-glass aquarium about 

 20 inches in diameter, containing a little gravel, which I 

 planted with Vallisneria Spiralis ; this I filled with water, 

 and placed in the west window of my sitting-room. The 



