PRESlbENT's ADbRESS. t) 



counterpart of the European Proteus anguinetis from which it 

 differs in being shorter-bodied and longer-limbed, so much so 

 that the limbs appear by attenuation to have become converted 

 into tactile organs, the discovery that the eye is destitute of lens 

 and eye-muscles recalling the condition of the blind-locust of the 

 New Zealand caves, in which, under the functional atrophy of the 

 eye, the antennae have become elongated and a means of guidance 

 by the sense of touch. These morphological instances of 

 degeneracy teach us forcibly that in specialised forms of life 

 facts are to be found enabling us to gauge Nature's operations 

 and that the causes of change in organic nature can be ascertained 

 by the study of progressive evolutions. 



The group of Salamanders to which Spelerpes belongs includes 

 the Newts, the Land Salamanders, and the Amblystoma, of which 

 there are about 20 known species, closely allied to the Axolotl, 

 which is found in the United States and Mexico and now 

 recognised to be the larva of Amblysfoma ; this genus is 

 terrestrial and insectivorous ; one species passes through 

 a remarkable metamorphosis which only became known 

 within the last few years. Naturalists had not been long 

 familiar with certain Pcrennibranchiata, which inhabit the 

 lakes of Mexico and the western part of North America, and 

 usually known as Axolotl. These not only resemble the larva of 

 the ordinary Perennibranchiata (Urodela), in having three gill- 

 tufts on each side of the neck, but in having fully developed 

 reproductive organs, which give rise to new individuals by a true 

 generative process. No doubt, therefore, was felt that the 

 Axolotls were generally adult and a new genus (Siredon) was 

 assigned to them. About 20 years ago it was discovered that 

 the common Axolotl, when kept in confinement, loses its gills, 

 with other external and internal changes. It is now recognised 

 to be the larva of ArnUystoma, arrested in its development, 

 before arriving at the adult state. 



The Labyrinthodont Stegocephati, now extinct, depart from 

 the Batrachian type, by an ossified basi-occipital, and comprise 

 both Salamandfiod and Ophidian forms. They were more or 



