74 TRITONS. -SALAMANDERS. 



externally. Both jaws, and the palate are armed with small teeth ; 

 their tongue is placed as it is in frogs ; the skeleton has rudimen- 

 tary ribs; and the number of their toes is four in front, and 

 almost always five behind. Some authors designate these animals 

 under the name of Salamanders. 



16. TRITONS, or Aquatic Salamanders, are the most common 

 batrachians of the family of Urodela; they always preserve a 

 laterally compressed tail, (Fig. 38.) and pass nearly all their time 



^,. ~ in the water. The 



most remarkable fac- 

 ulty possessed by 

 these reptiles, is the 

 astonishing facility, 

 with which they re- 

 pair any mutilation 

 CRESTED SALAMANDER, OR TRITON. ( O which they may 



be subjected. They not only replace the tail after it has been 

 cut off, as is the case also with lizards, but their extremities are 

 reproduced in the same manner. The same extremity, after 

 having been cut off, has been reproduced entire with its bones, 

 its muscles, its vessels and nerves, several times in succession, 

 and we are even assured that, in one experiment, the eye, after 

 having been extirpated, was reproduced in the space of a year. 



17. Several species are found in the neighbourhood of Paris. 

 Sometimes the tadpoles become very large before losing their 

 branchiae A fossil, found in the schists of (Eningen, and be- 

 longing to a large species of Salamander, has excited a good 

 deal of interest; because, from a singular error, it was for a long 

 time regarded as the skeleton of a fossil man. 



18. SALAMANDERS PROPERLY so CALLED, or TERRESTRIAL SALA- 

 MAMJERS in the perfect state, have a round tail, and only remain 

 in the water during their tadpole existence, or when they lay. 

 Their eggs are hatched before they are laid, and the young at 

 first have a compressed tail like ordinary tadpoles; they lose the 

 tail, and finish their metamorphosis very promptly. In the perfect 

 state, they inhabit shady, humid situations : they are ordinarily 

 found under stones, or in subterraneous holes. It was for a long 

 time believed that Salamanders had the power of resisting the 

 action of fire ; but this fable was without foundation ; except, 

 perhaps, that when the reptile is irritated, it sweats a milky 



16. What are Tritons? For what are they remarkable? 



17. What led to the belief that a fossil man had been discovered? 



18. What are Salamanders properly so called ? How are they distin 

 guished from Tritons ? 



