2668 



NEWTS, SALAMANDERS, AND C (EC I LI AN S 



American species, one of which ranges as far south as Mexico, the genus has 

 also one Asiatic member, inhabiting the mountains of Siam, probably at a great 

 elevation. 



The majority of axolotls pass from the tadpole to the salamander stage in the 

 ordinary way, but this is not the case with the Mexican race of the Mexican axo- 

 lotl (A. tigrinum) which likewise extends over a large area in the United States. 

 The adult form is shown in our second illustration; and in this condition the head is 

 large and depressed, and has a broad and blunt muzzle, the limbs being stout, with 

 short toes, and the rather long tail distinctly compressed, and keeled above and be- 

 low near the extremity. The shining skin is finely granulated, and the general 



j 



V 



ADULT OF MEXICAN AXOLOTI,. 

 (Two-thirds natural size.) 



color brown or blackish, with more or less numerous yellow spots, which may 

 be arranged in transverse bands. In the United States, we believe, the transforma- 

 tion from the larva to the adult goes on in the ordinary manner; but the case is very 

 different in Mexico. The city bearing that name is, as our readers are doubtless 

 aware, surrounded by an extensive lake; while the country itself is characterized 

 by its extreme dryness. In this lake dwell the creatures represented in our first il- 

 lustration, which are known to the natives by the name of axolotl. It will be seen 

 from this figure that they resemble the tadpole stage of ordinary salamanders and 

 newts in having large branching gills, and a deep rudder-like tail; and the natural 

 conclusion would be that they are larval forms. However, in the Mexican lakes, 

 the axolotls remain permanently in the water, retaining their gills throughout life, 



