THE AMPHIBIA, LIFE HISTORY AND HABITS 271 



fellows indeed. They can only live in moisture, and so are found 

 after rains and in wet places, although in adult form they breathe 

 air. They have the regular amphibian metamorphosis, though 

 they never absorb their tails. The newt, however, adds a very 

 curious stage to its life history, for after about two years of land 

 life it returns to the water, even from great distances, changes 

 color to olive-green, develops its tail fin again and by some means 

 is enabled to breathe the dissolved air in the water. Here, after 

 all these strange vicissitudes, breeding takes place, eggs are laid, 

 and the life history starts again. 

 The true salamanders are larger, there being several common 





FIG. 92. The western brown eft, or salamander, Diemyctylus torosus. 

 From Kellogg. 



species. The spotted salamander, black, with yellow spots, is 

 about six and one-half inches long, and the black salamander, 

 blue black and a little smaller, are two of the kinds most often 

 found and mistaken for lizards. All are harmless to handle, useful 

 as insect eaters and so helpless and interesting that they ought 

 never to be destroyed. 



COLLATERAL READING 



Metamorphosis: The Frog Book, Dickerson, pp. 1-7; Study of Animal 

 Life, Thompson, p. 258; Elements of Zoology, Davenport, pp. 451-457; 

 Textbook of Zoology, Packard, p. 184; Introduction to Biology, Bigelow, 

 pp. 389-414; Lessons in Zoology, Needham, pp. 178-196; Elementary 

 Zoology, Kellogg, p. 299; Biology of the Frog, Holmes, pp. 81-119; 

 Animal Activities, French, p. 179; Zoology -Text, Packard, p. 874; 

 Winners in Life's Race, Buckley, pp. 70-77; Cornell Nature Leaflet, 

 Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 88-97; Life in Ponds and Streams, Furneaux, pp. 

 360-399. 



Relatives: American Natural History, Hornaday, pp. 359-374; Frog 



