82 EEPTILIAN WATER TRESPASSERS. 



In the Insect-room at the British Museum, several 

 of these creatures have been kept for some years in a 

 glass vessel. They are quite tame, and will come to 

 be fed when summoned; the mode of calling them 

 being to make a slight rippling on the surface of 

 the water with the finger. 



The axolotl breeds freely in England the speci- 

 mens in the British Museum producing annually great 

 quantities of young. They are, however, difficult crea- 

 tures to rear; and only a very small percentage pass even 

 beyond their infancy. I tried to rear a dozen of them, 

 but failed, although I took care to supply them with 

 water in which were great numbers of the water-flea, 

 and other entomostraca. Most of them died gradually 

 off, without having increased in size ; while only one 

 seemed to be in the way of thriving. That one did 

 grow finely, and I thought that it would have sur- 

 vived; but one day the usual fatal sign made its 

 appearance, i.e., a sort of flocculence round the body, 

 and in another day all my axolotls were dead. 



I much regretted its loss, as I wished, as soon as 

 it was about half-grown, to try the experiment of 

 converting the gill-breathing axolotl into an air- 

 breathing newt. 



The axolotl is shown in the lower figure of 

 Cut 4. 



There is one very large species of gill-breathing 

 Newt which inhabits the Mississippi and several of the 

 American lakes. Its scientific title is Necturus late- 

 ralis. I do not know whether it possesses a popular 

 name. 



It sometimes reaches a length not very far short of 



