SALAMANDER. 



583 



much more perfect in the skeleton than the corres- 

 ponding- part of the fore leg. The skin is of a lea- 

 thery consistency, firm but smooth, with the epidermis 

 semitransparent. 



There can hardly be said to be any distinct gullet 

 in this very singular animal. From the anterior part 

 of the canal there is a gradual widening to a sort of 

 spindle-shaped stomach, which is simple, and copi- 

 ously supplied with glands or follicles which pour 

 out a mucous kind of secretion, but little is known of 

 the rate at which digestion goes on, though from the 

 sluggish character of all the other actions of the ani- 

 mal it is supposed to be very slow. No provision 

 can be said to be made for its hybernating as is known 

 to be done in many other animals, by the depositing 

 of fatty matter in the cellular tissue ; but there are 

 certain oily accumulations of a yellow colour in 

 various parts of its body, which, by some, are con- 

 sidered as answering this purpose, though the fact of 

 their doing so is not fully established. 



The breathing apparatus, in the full-grown sala- 

 mander, consists of lungs narrowed at the fore part, 

 and rather enlarged backwards. The entrance to 

 them is by a trachea of no great length, and their 

 substance consists of cells, not of very large size, and 

 partially divided by partitions, the vessels in which 

 the blood receives the action of the air being ramified 

 all over the partitions and the walls of the cells. 

 The heart is a true batrachian one, consisting of a 

 single ventricle and a single auricle, and it is enclosed 

 in a proper pericardium. The heart is of a red colour. 

 One large vessel, which brings the blood from the 

 lungs to the heart, partakes of many of the characters 

 of a vein ; but the other trunk, which carries it from 

 the heart all over the body, has much more the cha- 

 racter of an artery. Taking it altogether, this is one 

 of the most singular animals in the whole range of 

 the animal kingdom, and a very intimate acquaintance 

 with the animal economy is necessary for enabling 

 one to understand and appreciate its character. The 

 mode of its reproduction is not the least singular part 

 of its economy. There can be no doubt that the 

 impregnation of the ova is internal, which is not usual 

 among the Batrachia; but the most curious part of 

 the matter is that the young are understood to remain 

 in the oviduct not only till they come out of the egg, 

 but till they have performed all their elementary 

 transformations, lost their gills, and are no longer 

 proper tenants of the water, in which, however, they 

 are understood still to continue for some short time, 

 of course rising to the surface to breathe air when- 

 ever that operation is necessary. The common sala- 

 mander is the largest of the European species or 

 varieties, for their manners are so obscure that it is 

 not easy, in every case, to say whether the distinction 

 should be regarded in the one way or in the other. 

 This one is sometimes met with as much as eight 

 inches in length ; but, we believe, very seldom more 

 and generally less. It is quite unknown in the Brit- 

 ish islands ; and is found about the middle latitudes 

 of continental Europe, or rather perhaps in those 

 more to the south, but in the upland districts rather 

 than the low and warm ones. We mentioned that 

 its colour is black, with yellow spots ; but the black 

 is true only of the upper part, the under being more 

 or less of a bluish tinge ; and the yellow spots are 

 placed in a pretty regular row along each side. 



There are, however, several other species, or at all 

 events varieties. One of these, the black salamander 



of Laurenti, is rare in France, in some parts of which 

 the one that we have noticed is not uncommon, al- 

 though, from its habits, it is but rarely seen in pro- 

 portion to the numbers in which it actually exists. 

 It is, however, by no means rare in some of the 

 mountainous parts of the south of Germany. It is 

 only about half the size of the common one : wholly 

 black on the upper part, without any rows of yellow 

 spots on the sides, and yellowish altogether on the 

 under part. Another, the spectacled salamander, is 

 found in the Apennines. It is a small species, with 

 only four toes on the hind feet as well as on the fore. 

 It is wholly black on the upper part, and yellow 

 spotted with black on the under, with a yellow band 

 across and surrounding the eyes, from which it gets 

 the epithet of spectacled. Another, called the dark 

 or funereal salamander, is found further south in 

 Europe, chiefly in Spain, and in the warmest parts of 

 that country. It is shorter than the common sala- 

 mander, but proportionally thicker in the body and 

 more slender in the tail. It is dark brown on the 

 back, paler on the sides, and passing into sand colour 

 on the under part. It frequents the margins of the 

 water, even in the hottest parts of Spain, as for in- 

 stance in the beautiful plains of Andalusia. It re- 

 mains in perfect concealment all the day, coming 

 abroad only at night, and appearing in the houses of 

 the people, especially w here they have fires ; for, 

 though it cannot bear the glare of day-light, it is fond 

 of heat. Another species still is common in some 

 parts of the extreme south of France. It is called 

 the variegated salamander. It has a line of bright or 

 orange red along the back and the tail.and sometimes 

 lines of the same colour along the sides. The upper 

 part and the head are of a dull green, which varies 

 in the shade in different specimens ; and these parts 

 are in general roughened by a sort of warts or 

 tubercles. The flanks are greyish-black, and the 

 under parts are reddish and quite smooth or free from 

 tubercles. It is found about the sides of ditches, and 

 in the damp meadows which are overshadowed by 

 trees. 



In the other parts of the eastern continent it is 

 probable that there are more species, or at all events 

 varieties. Some have been observed in the Japan 

 isles, principally, we believe, in Niphon, where they 

 have acquired at least some part of the celebrity 

 which was enjoyed by the salamanders of Europe in 

 ancient times. It does not appear that the Japanese, 

 who are rather a sensible people in many respects, 

 have connected these salamanders with any fire-proof 

 quality, or that they have supposed them to be in 

 any way conducive to the healing of burning fevers 

 and other violent diseases ; but they consider that 

 not only the recent flesh, but the dried bodies, have 

 potent medicinal virtues ; and, accordingly, they are 

 in much requisition by the apothecaries ; and are 

 supposed to have similar corroborative qualities to 

 those which are attributed to the skinks, which appear 

 to have just as much truth in the one case as in the 

 other. In all these species it does not, however, ap- 

 pear that there are any differences of habit, which 

 can be made the basis of any thing like useful popular 

 description. 



It is the same with the terrestrial salamanders of 

 America. So far as has been observed, these are 

 confined to the northern parts of that continent, 

 though not to the regions of extreme cold. They 

 appear, as is the case with the whole or the greater 



