FAMILY GAUD AT A. TAILED 



109 



the other are naturally consumed. The power of resisting heat attributed 

 to the Salamander, led also to a report of cloth being made of their skins 

 which was incombustible ; this is mentioned by Marco Polo, in his work 

 " De Regionibus Orientalibus," but he states that this incombustible cloth 

 was really made of " minera qusedam terrae, quae fila producit, lanae haud 

 dissimilia," which was doubtless asbestos, known to the older writers as 

 " Salamander's wool ;" and of this material was probably the napkin " ex 

 Salamandra contextam," presented to the Roman pontiff by a Tartar king, 

 which was reported to be at Rome in Marco Polo's time, and used as a 

 wrapper to the head-cloth of our Lord there said to be preserved. 



Not more than three or four Salamanders are found in Europe, and those 

 only in the warmer climates ; but very many have been met with of late 

 years, and described, in America. 



The Spotted Salamander (S. Maculosa) is between six and seven inches 

 in length ; general colour dull-livid black, spotted and streaked with yellow ; 

 along the sides of the head and body are some rows of tubercles, which 

 consist of follicles secreting a kind of milky fluid, acrid, and capable of 

 being projected to some distance when the animal is irritated. They are 

 found in France, and in the warmer parts of Europe, but are not met with 

 in this country. 



TRITON Eft. This genus was separated by Laurenti from the Sala- 

 manders on account of their compressed, fin-like, instead of rounded or 

 quadrangular tail, and their aquatic habits. They are, moreover, distin- 

 guished from the Salamanders in being oviparous, instead of ovoviviparous. 

 They deposit their eggs either single or in patches of two to four, but still 

 distinct, on the corner of some plant standing in or on the water, to which 

 they are fixed by a clammy jelly, which also fastens the leaf together. The 

 larvae, when first hatched, have no feet; in which respect they resemble 

 the Tadpoles of Frogs and Toads, but they are distinguished from them 

 by the fore legs being first developed, whilst the complete number of toes 

 on the hind feet does not at first appear. At their very first escape from 

 the egg, and previous to the formation of the mouth, they have a fila- 

 mentous production in front of the gills and on the under surface of the 

 head, by means of which they fix themselves to water-plants. They are 

 carnivorous, feeding upon insects, worms, and small molluscs. As to their 

 tenacity of life, Dufay mentions the remarkable fact, that they may be 

 frozen up in the ice for a long time without being destroyed. Their capa- 

 bility of reproducing parts which have been injured or amputated is very 

 astonishing, and has been largely experimented on by Spallanzani ; so that 

 the tail and limbs are found restored after five or six successive amputations 

 in the same summer. 



Many more species of this genus have been enumerated than really exist, 

 in consequence of difference of colour, both as to age and at different periods 

 of the year, having been described as distinct species. They are divided 

 into 1. Efts with all the toes unwebbed ; 2. Efts with hind toes half- 

 webbed ; and 3. Efts with hind toes completely webbed. 



The Marbled Eft (T. Gesneri or Marmorata) measures from eight to 

 nine inches in length, of which the fail is one-half; upper surface rather 

 pale olive-green, sprinkled with large brownish spots, or irregular mar- 

 blings, extending on the dorsal crest, which is not deep or dentated ; under 

 parts blackish or brownish, and sprinkled with numerous white granular 

 pores upon the sides, neck, and throat ; upper half of tail spotted or mar- 

 bled with deep brown, and separated by a white or reddish band from the 

 lower brown half. Is a native of the south of France, has a very fetid 

 odour, and lives in pools ; but sometimes, in hot and stormy weather, it 

 comes ashore, and trails itself with seeming difficulty to some shady spot 

 more or less distant. In winter it resorts in small parties to the holes in 

 rotten trees, probably for hybernation. 



SALAMANDEOPS. The remarkable animal on which this genus is founded 

 was discovered by the French traveller, Michaux, in the Alleghany Moun- 

 tains. There is but one species : 



The Menopama (S. Alleghancnsis). It is about two feet in length, and 

 sometimes more ; of a very uncouth and disgusting form, is much dreaded 

 by fishermen, and believed by them to be poisonous. It is found in the 



The Axolotl. 



Ohio and Alleghany rivers; lives in the water, eats flesh, and spares nothing 

 it can devour. The Indians call it Tweeg, and by the Anglo-Americans it 

 is called Hellbender, Mud Devil, Ground Puppy, and Young Alligator. 



SIREDOX Axolotl. The curious animal upon which this gemn is 

 founded was first described by Francisco Hernandez, in 1651, under the 

 name of Axolotl. He speaks of it as 

 a kind of pond fish, covered with soft 

 skin, four-footed like Lizards, about 

 nine inches long and an inch thick, 

 but sometimes exceeding eighteen 

 inches in length. Since then, how- 

 ever, several descriptions of the rep- 

 tile have been given. It is found in 

 the Lake Tezcuco surrounding the city 



of Mexico, and also in the mountain lakes and cold waters of that district. 

 It is eaten by the lower orders, and is called Ajolataor Ahdata. (Plate 8.) 

 PROTEUS. This remarkable genus, one of the two which form an inter- 

 mediate link between the Batrachian Reptiles and Cartilaginous Fishes, has 

 a general resemblance to the Salamanders, but has more vertebrae and 

 fewer ribs, and the form of its skull differs entirely. It is furnished with 

 a double respiratory apparatus, so that it is truly amphibious. 



Considerable dispute has existed as to the Proteus being a perfect 

 animal. Hermann, Schneider, and Linnaeus considered it to be the larva 

 of some Salamander ; but after the most diligent investigation by Schneider 

 and Cuvier, they have come to the conclusion that it is a perfect animal, 

 and that it retains both kinds of respiratory organs throughout life. 



The P. Anguinus (Plate 8) varies in length from nine to thirteen inches, 

 and probably depending on the animal's age ; its colour light red, and the 

 branchial appendages deep blood coloured, according to Dr. Schreiber's 

 account; but Sir Humphry Davy says, " it is of a fleshy whiteness and 

 transparency in its natural state, but when exposed to light its skin gra- 

 dually becomes darker, and at last gains an olive tint." 



The Proteus was first discovered by Baron Zois in 1795, in the Grotto 

 of Maddalena at Adelsberg, and subsequently, though rarely, about thirty 

 miles distant, in the Sitticher See, thrown up with water from a subterra- 

 neous cavity. None were discovered subsequently till 1799, and it there- 

 fore seems that although the overflowings of the numerous lakes in this 

 district, which seem to communicate with one another, occur generally 

 once or twice every year, yet the appearance of the Proteus is always cor- 

 respondent with them. Sir H. Davy thinks there can be no doubt " that 

 their natural residence is in an extensive subterranean lake, from which in 

 great floods they sometimes are forced through the crevices of the rocks 

 into the places where they are found." 



Mr. De Geen has given, in the " Journal of the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences of Philadelphia," another account of a second species of this genus, 

 which he calls the Proteus of New Jersey. 



SIREN. The first mention of the curious animal which forms this genus 

 was made in a letter, dated May 18, 1765, from Dr. Garden, of South 

 Carolina, to Linnaeus ; since which period it has come under the observation 

 of several naturalists. Three species are described, one of which burrows 

 in the ground, another in the mud, and the last in both. 



The first is the S. Lacertina (Plate 8), which measures from three to 

 three and a half feet long, the body resembling that of an Eel ; the head is 

 not separated from the trunk by any neck, is of a rounded form, and ter- 

 minating in a blunt muzzle ; the mouth rather small, and the upper project- 

 ing a little beyond the lower lip, but neither fleshy nor supported by bone, 

 as in fishes; the nostrils are two very small apertures near the edge of the 

 upper lip; the eyes, placed above the corners of the mouth, are small, 

 round, and are visible through the skin which passes over them, as they 

 have not eyelids ; no appearance of any ear. 



The skin is smooth and not in the least scaly, but examination of it with 

 a glass presents numerous slightly-elevated points and corresponding depres- 

 sions. The general colour of the animal is deep blackish-brown, with 

 numerous small whitish points above and beneath of a paler colour. 



