BREEDING OF MEGALOBATRACHUS 



in the mountains of Iga and Hiruze ; as a rule the larger 

 the streams which the eft inhabits, the larger the eft 

 itself, precisely as in the case of other freshwater crea- 

 tures. It will be noticed that the animal has not, what 

 some others of the Urodele amphibians have, any 

 vestige of external breathing organs, the gills or branchiae. 

 Nor is there the least trace of a cleft which is associated 

 in other amphibians with such gills. In this it differs 

 from the very closely allied, though smaller, North 

 American Menopoma, or " Hellbender," as its singular 

 vernacular name runs. Both animals are often together 

 at the Zoo, and in adjacent tanks, so that they can be 

 easily compared. Our salamander has a great flat head, 

 a warty body of a brownish olive to almost black in hue. 

 The limbs are fully developed, which is not always the 

 case in its allies, and terminate in the usual five but 

 stumpy fingers and toes. It nourishes itself in its native 

 haunts upon little fishes and other aquatic creatures, 

 which it hardly pursues with effort, but simply snaps 

 up when they are so imprudent as to venture within 

 reach of its jaws. The only time when this lethargic 

 inhabitant of the waters shows any activity is the breed- 

 ing season in August and September ; it then moves 

 about with more frequency and rapidity, and, like our 

 crested newt, assumes a slightly brighter coloration. 

 These amphibians have never bred at the Zoo ; but 

 lately they have at Amsterdam ; and Dr. Kerbert, of 

 the Zoological Society of that city, has been able to 

 watch them and report upon their behaviour. It is 

 quite possible that such a happy occurrence may occur 

 at our Zoo ; for no particular help in the way of run- 

 ning water or larger accommodation seems to be neces- 

 sary. This newt, like others, and even after the fashion 

 of some frogs and toads, deposits its eggs not in a mass, 

 such as we are all familiar with in pools in this country 

 in the early spring, the work, of course, of the common 



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