AMPHIBIOUS VERTEBRATES. 



199 



Jungs, yet living in the water. Finally some of them were 

 taken to Paris, where their gills shriveled, and they finally 

 left the water, becoming true lung-breathing animals, the 

 Amblystoma ; so the axolotl was only the larval form, that 

 owing to the extreme dryness of the atmosphere in Mex- 

 ico never developed, but lived, multiplied, and died in 

 the water. 



NOTE. It is now known that in the lakes of Utah and Wyoming 

 other species attain the adult form. The eggs are deposited in masses, 

 the young appearing in July. They reproduce lost parts, legs and tail 

 if removed appearing a few weeks later. They are useful scavengers, 

 and are eaten by the Mexicans. If the lungs and gills of the axo- 

 lotl are removed, it still can breathe by absorption through the skin. 

 Frogs can breathe in a similar way. 



FIG. 242. The newt (Lissotriton punctatus). Male and young in tho 

 water, female on the bank. 



The tritons, or newts (Fig. 242), are common in vari- 

 ous parts of the world, and are often brilliantly colored. 

 A spotted newt in England bends up the side of a leaf, 

 gluing it together and forming a nest for a single egg, all 



