212 THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 



born. Thus the old-fashioned Peripatus, 

 which we 'have already spoken of, carries its 

 young one for a year before it is born. This 

 means that the young Peripatus is able to 

 creep about soon after its birth; it hides itself 

 under the mother's body and, after a while, 

 under bark. Just in the same way among 

 wild horses, which must always be on the 

 move, the foal is carried by its mother eleven 

 months before birth, and the result is that 

 when it is born it is not helpless like a calf 

 (which is hidden in a thicket), but is able 

 very soon to stagger along beside its mother. 

 Among aquatic animals there is in many 

 cases a long larval life ; among terrestrial ani- 

 mals the young are often born as miniature 

 copies of their parents from the first. This is 

 so even when a land animal is quite closely 

 related to one which brings forth its young in 

 the water. We saw that the young mountain- 

 salamander, which has no water stage, be- 

 cause the streams are too swift, is born like 

 its parent, while its near relative, the fire- 

 salamander of the plains, which goes through 

 the early stages of its life in the water, begins 

 as a tadpole, and passes through several 

 changes before attaining the adult form. 



