THE NEWT ANT) ITS ALLIES 257 



The Proteidae l include our Necturus, commonly known 

 as mud-puppy or water-dog, which is found from the 

 Hudson River to the Mississippi valley, and is very 

 abundant in the Great Lakes. Its external gills are 

 very large, and red with the blood flowing in them. It 

 feeds 011 small water-animals. In April or May it lays 

 eggs about the size of a pea. A curiously modified form 

 of Necturus occurs in caves (Fig. 240). Another member 

 of this family is the cave " olm " of western Austria. 



The Amphiumidae 2 include only the Congo snake of 

 the Carolinas and Gulf States. This black, snake-like 

 Urodelian is about a metre long, and lives in bayous and 

 muddy ditches (Fig. 241). It has the entirely undeserved 

 reputation of being injurious. 



The Cryptobranchidae 3 include the so-called "hell- 

 bender" of the Ohio valley and south. 4 It is a very 

 voracious scavenger of the water, and bites the hook 

 fiercely. It is noted for its great tenacity of life under 

 unfavorable conditions. The only other living repre- 

 sentative of this family is the Japanese giant salamander, 

 which becomes three metres long. 



The Amblystomidae 5 include some twenty-five species 

 belonging to five genera, four of which occur in northern 

 and eastern Asia, and the fifth, Amblystorna, is confined 

 to the United States and Mexico, excepting one species, 

 occurring in Siam. The common species of New England 

 and the Central States is known as the Spotted Sala- 



1 IIpoTerfs, a sea-god possessed of the power of changing himself into 

 different shapes. 



2 Probably a modification of a native name. 



3 /cpu7rr6s, hidden ; ppdyx iOV > gill- 



4 Fig. 242. 5 From d/ijSXtfs, blunt ; <rr6^a, mouth. 



s 



