AXOLOTLS. 



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The tarantolina, as this salamander is termed in Italy and Sardinia, inhabits cool, 

 shady spots on the flanks of the mountains, where it feeds chiefly upon ants and 

 spiders, and is active at all seasons of the year, having been seen abroad even in 

 January. Although it appears that the pairing takes place on land, the females 

 resort to the water in March to deposit their eggs, those that are the first to arrive 

 taking the best places, such as sheltered corners of rock, where the spawn will be 

 less likely to be washed away by floods. The young are hatched in about three 

 weeks, and generally leave the water in June. In its movements on land this 

 salamander is as active as a lizard. 



There are two other existing genera of the subfamily under 

 consideration, both differing from the preceding forms in that the 

 maxilla or upper jawbone is more or less fully in contact with the pterygoid bone. 

 Both have a fronto-squamosal arch, but whereas in Tylotriton this is bony 

 throughout, it is ligamentous posteriorly in Pachytriton, which has also the tail 



Other Genera. 



Axolotls. 



SPECTACLED SALAMANDER (nat. size). 



cylindrical at the base, instead of compressed throughout. The former genus, in 

 which the skin is extremely warty, is represented by one species from Siam and 

 the Eastern Himalaya, and a second from the Liu Kiu Islands, while the latter is 

 known only by a single Chinese form. 



Although properly speaking the term axolotl applies only to the 

 permanent larval form of the Mexican representative of the genus 

 Amblystoma, it will be found convenient in practice to make it include all the 

 members of that group, whether mature or immature. Together with certain 

 other genera, Amblystoma constitutes a second subfamily (Amblystomatince) 

 distinguished from the Salamandrince by the teeth on the palate forming a 

 transverse or posteriorly converging series, and being inserted on the hinder 

 portion of those bones known as the vomers; as well as by the bodies of the 

 vertebrae being cupped at each end. The type genus is specially characterised by 

 the palatal teeth forming a nearly straight or angulated series, not separated by a 

 space in the middle line ; and likewise by the radiating folds of skin on the tongue, 

 which are oval or nearly circular in form, with the sides completely and the front 



