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TEXT-BOOK OF ZOOLOGY 



A dry heat soon proves dangerous to this as to all other amphibians. 

 (Why ? See p. 253.) Accordingly it chooses for its habitat damp woods, 



deep valleys, etc., and only emerges from 

 its retreat when the woods are soaked with 

 rain. Its food consists of slugs, earth- 

 worms, and all sorts of insects (the tongue 

 completely adheres to the floor of the wide 

 mouth, and cannot be protruded). 



The salamander does not visit the 

 water except for the purpose of laying its 

 eggs, from which the larvae escape as soon 

 as they are laid. The larvae are from f 

 to 1 inch long, and are at their earliest 

 stage possessed of external branchial tufts 

 as well as of legs. Their colour resembles 

 that of the pebbly bottom of the brook in 

 which they undergo their development. 

 The female carries the eggs for a consider- 

 able time within her body, and the young 

 leave the egg - case in a much higher 

 stage of development than those of the 

 frog. The perpetuation of the species is 

 rendered sure by a much less numerous progeny, which rarely exceed 

 forty. After the disappearance of the branchiae, the development of 



