300 



NEWTS AND SALAMANDERS. 



partially free. There are five hind-toes, and the tail is more or less compressed. 

 Represented by a number of North American species, one of which ranges as far 

 south as Mexico, the genus has also one Asiatic member, inhabiting the mountains 

 of Siam, probably at a great elevation. 



The majority of axolotls pass from the tadpole to the salamander stage in 

 the ordinary way, but this is not the case with the Mexican race of the Mexican 

 axolotl (A. tigrinum), which likewise extends over a large area in the United 

 States. The adult form is shown in our second illustration ; and in this condition 

 the head is large and depressed, and has a broad and blunt muzzle, the limbs 

 being stout, with short toes, and the rather long tail distinctly compressed, and 



1 



LARVAL STAGE OF MEXICAN AXOLOTL ( nat. size). 



keeled above and below near the extremity. The shining skin is finely granulated, 

 and the general colour brown or blackish, with more or less numerous yellow 

 spots, which may be arranged in transverse bands. In the United States, we 

 believe, the transformation from the larva to the adult goes on in the ordinary 

 manner ; but the case is very different in Mexico. The city bearing that name 

 is, as our readers are doubtless aware, surrounded by an extensive lake ; while 

 the country itself is characterised by its extreme dry ness. In this lake dwell the 

 creatures represented in our first illustration, which are known to the natives 

 by the name of axolotl. It will be seen from this figure that they resemble 

 the tadpole stage of ordinary salamanders and newts in having large branching 

 gills, and a deep rudder-like tail ; and the natural conclusion would be that 



