PERENNIBRANCHIATA. 367 



mud of the consistence of mortar, into which they burrow like an 

 earthworm. They inhabit the ditches of rice -fields, and feed on 

 small fish and fresh- water mussels, beetles, and other insects. Some- 

 times they are found on dry land. They pass the .winter season in 

 the mud, collecting together at that time in great numbers, and re- 

 main in a state of torpidity till the spring. 



The Gigantic Salamander (Sieboldia maxima) was discovered by 



FlG. 297. GIGANTIC SALAMANDER. 



the celebrated naturalist Von Siebold, in Japan, It is a hideous- 

 looking animal, with four toes on the front and five on the hind feet. 



Another large species met with in the fresh waters of North Ame- 

 rica has received from our Anglo-American brethren the pretty 

 names of 



The "Hell-bender,'' the * : Mud-devil" and many others equally 

 expressive of esteem and regard. 



AMPHIBIA WITH PERMANENT GILLS. 

 PERENNIBRANCHIATA. 



This family is composed of animals that always 

 preserve their branchiae, and resemble in their struc- 

 ture the tadpoles of Newts. Indeed, they were at first 

 regarded as being the young of some large species of 

 Triton ; but there is now no doubt of their being per- 

 fect animals, and what is very remarkable, possessing 

 as they do, well-developed branchiae, they have also 

 lungs, and are consequently completely amphibious. 

 Their body terminates in a long vertical tail ; their 

 limbs are but little developed, and the hinder pair is 

 sometimes wanting. Four genera are known, namely, 



