168 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 
brown. This is the largest of our salamanders. Although in form 
resembling the Spotted Salamander, its blotched appearance 
makes identification easy. The limbs are large and well de- 
veloped. A mature specimen from New Jersey shows a total 
length of 84 inches; the tail is 3? inches long, and the head # 
inch wide. The species is said to attain a length of eleven inches. 
Range: The entire United States and southern Canada; 
northern and central Mexico. 
Local Distribution: Rare, but found occasionally on Long | 
Island and in New Jersey. 
Although one of the rarest of the local batrachians, the Ti- 
ger Salamander is our most interesting species. The metamor- 
phosis from the larval to the adult form depends largely upon 
light and temperature, and is strongly influenced by surrounding 
conditions. In the western and southwestern portions of the 
United States it is abundant, and throughout those areas, for 
many years, its larval or tadpole stage was thought to constitute 
a distinct species, the Axolotl. In permanent lakes of some 
depth, where the water remains moderately cold and there is 
abundance of food suitable for the larval form, this creature 
evinces an interesting persistency in retaining the branching 
gills (branchiz) and continues its aquatic existence for indefinite 
periods even attaing the size of the terrestrial form. 
More remarkable, however, than tardy metamorphosis is the 
fact that during this evidently larval state these creatures breed 
and deposit eggs. In this aquatic form the species has had 
several different names. In the case of an evaporating pool, 
slowly drying away under the summer sun, the larva finds an 
opportunity along the shallow borders frequently to employ its 
nostrils at the surface of the water, with the result that the gills 
become degenerated and transformation is hastened. 
Adult specimens secrete themselves in burrows, not far from 
the vicinity of water, although they may be occasionally found 
hiding under decaying logs, in very moist situations. They prey 
upon insects and worms, and they even attack larger creatures, 
when within reach. A specimen in the writer’s collection de- 
voured several very young field mice. Hiding by day, they prowl 
during the hours of darkness or during rains. 
