REPRODUCTION 203 



them in the crook of the tail. The development could not be 

 followed. 



(2) B. The gigantic salamander of China and Japan {Me- 

 galobatrachus maximus) and its smaller North x<\merican ally 

 {Cryptobranchus alleghaniensis) are thoroughly aquatic, never 

 leaving the water. The egg is a spherical or oval mass of 

 yellow yolk, about six millimetres in diameter in either species ; 

 it is surrounded by two or three layers of transparent jelly, 

 forming a large capsule, thirteen to sixteen millimetres in dia- 

 meter. Unlike the eggs of most Batrachians in which the yolk- 

 sac is large, the egg is far from filling its capsule, but is 

 surrounded by an aqueous fluid. Each capsule is connected 

 with the next by means of a comparatively small string of the 

 same substance, which is at least equal in length to the longer 

 axis of the capsule. The eggs of M. maximus have been found 

 in Japan, deposited in deep holes in the water, where they form 

 large clumps (seventy to eighty eggs) round which the male 

 coils himself. The gigantic salamander has also bred in the 

 Amsterdam Zoological Gardens, the eggs numbering upwards 

 of 500. In this case it is the male who is believed to have taken 

 charge of the eggs, and for the ten weeks which elapsed until 

 the release of the last larva, he kept close to them, at times 

 crawling among the coiled mass of egg-strings or lifting them 

 up, evidently for the purpose of aeration. The larva on leaving 

 the egg is about an inch long, provided with three branched 

 external gills on each side, like those of our newt larva, or of 

 the axolotl, and showing mere rudiments of the four limbs. 



Amphiuma, a member of the same family as Megalobatrachus 

 and Cryptobranchus^ and a native of the South-Eastern United 

 States, has quite similar eggs, the capsule measuring eight to 

 twelve millimetres in diameter. The eggs have been found in a 

 hole in a dried-up swamp, with the mother coiled round them. 

 The larvae on the point of hatching, have four limbs and three 

 long pinnate external gills. 



(2) C. Desmognathus fusca, a small salamander living in 

 running brooks in the Eastern United States, lays its eggs like- 

 wise in rosary-like strings. The female takes charge of this 

 rosary by winding it several times round the body and nurses 

 it in a comparatively dry spot. Sometimes the eggs form a 

 bunch, which is carried on the back of the parent. The spheri- 



