4O NATURALISTS CABINET. 



Usual retreats Food Slow pace. 



guish even the smallest fire ; it possesses some 

 degree of acridity, for, when put upon the end 

 of the tongue, it causes an unpleasant burning 

 sensation. 



These animals usually resort in shady woods, 

 high mountains, or the banks of unfrequented 

 rivulets; and they are not often seen except 

 during wet weather. In the winter they lie con- 

 cealed in hollows about the roots of old trees, in 

 subterraneous recesses, or the cavities of old 

 walls, where several of them have been some- 

 times discovered, collected, and twisted together. 

 They are often to be seen in the water, where 

 they are able to live as well as on land. Their 

 principal food is insects, beetles, snails, &c. 

 Their pace is slow, often appearing to drag 

 themselves with great difficulty along the surface 

 of the earth. They dread the heat of the sun. 

 Their young are brought into the world alive, 

 having been first hatched from eggs within the 

 parent animal. The females are said to retire to 

 the water to deposit them : at their first exclusion 

 from the body, these are furnished with fins on 

 each side of the neck, which, on the animal's 

 becoming perfect, drop off. The number of 

 young produced by one salamander is said some- 

 times to amount to thirty or forty; and the 

 young ones are generally of a black color, almost 

 without spots. 



