306 



NEWTS AND SALAMANDERS. 



skin is of a uniform blackish brown colour, although rather lighter below than 

 above. In total length, full-grown examples measure about 31 inches. From the 

 difference in the number of the toes it has been thought that there are two species ; 

 but since the two-toed and three- toed forms are in other respects similar, it seems 

 preferable to regard them as varieties or local races of a single species. These 

 salamanders are inhabitants of muddy waters, frequently burying themselves in 

 the mud at the bottom, in one instance to the depth of a yard or more, in thick 

 clayey mud of the consistence of putty, in which they burrowed like worms. They 

 also frequent the irrigation channels in rice-fields, while they occasionally venture 



THKEE-TOED OB EEL-LIKE SALAMANDER ( liat. size). 



on land. Their food comprises fresh- water mussels, fish, beetles, other insects, and 

 crustaceans. Beyond the fact that the female lays eggs, in which the tadpole lies 

 coiled up until it attains several times the length of its chamber, little is known as 

 to the breeding-habits of this species. 



THE GILLED SALAMANDERS. 

 Family PROTEID^!. 



Represented only by the curious olm of the subterranean waters of Carniola 

 and other parts of Europe, and by an allied genus in North America, the gilled 

 salamanders take their title from the permanent retention of external gills, on 

 which account they may be regarded as some of the lowest representatives of the 



