374 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



stones. When a stone, beneath which one is hiding, is first lifted up, the Desmognath is generally 

 surprised and dazed, and remains quiet for a few seconds. It must then be quickly seized, or it darts 

 off into the water and escapes. 



" The metamorphoses of this species do not differ materially, so far as I have observed, from our 

 other Batrachia Urodela. The young are furnished with gill-tufts, and are entirely aquatic in habits. 

 When young they are lighter in colour than the adult, and often assume the colour of the mud or 

 sand of the stream they inhabit, and are thus not easily detected. The Brown Desmognath feeds 

 upon earthworms and insects. I found in the stomach of an individual three inches and a half in 

 length an earthworm over two inches long. 



" The generic name, Desmognath us, means band, or ligature jaw, so called on account of the ten- 

 dinous ligament (one on each side) passing from the atlas over the parietal and pro-otic bones to the 

 jaw. This, like a ligamentum nuchse, supports, or rather, in this case, gives great power tc the head, 

 which is necessary in pushing up stones when in search of the worms upon which it feeds. 



" The stagnant water of the aquarium seems ill fitted for the life of this lover of spring brooks, 

 for we could never succeed in keeping them alive for more than a few weeks." 



The history of the early life of these non-branchiate Amphibia with tails is interesting, and it 

 is very probable that some of the perennibranchiate Amphibia are really the larvae, or immature 

 forms, of others of this sub-order. This is evidently the case in the next family. 



THE FAMILY AMBLYSTOMID^E. 



One of the most interesting of the Mexican Amphibians is the so-called Axolotl, or Siredon, 

 which lives in the lake which surrounds the city of Mexico. They are like stout, short-legged Lizards 

 in shape, and are from eight to ten inches in length, and have short extremities, there being four 

 digits to the fore limbs and five to the hinder. The colour is dark grey, or almost black, with dark 

 spots, and there are three well-developed branchiae on each side of the neck There are teeth in 



AXOLOTL IN THE EARLIER, (A) AND IN THE LATKU (it) STAGES OF ITS EXISTENCE. (After 



