Miscellaneous. 249 



which has been prosecuted for a little more than three years. In 

 each series it makes known the number of individuals transformed, 

 the number of those remaining in the state of Asolotl, and, lastly, 

 the number of dead. 



Oviposition of Amblystomes. 



Amblystomes. Axolotls. Dead. 



First series 1 16 3 



Second series 2 14 4 



Oviposition of Axolotls. 



Amblystomes. Axolotls. Dead. 



First series 2 4 10 



Second series 1 4 11 



Since 1876 the reproduction of the Amblystomes could not be 

 again obtained ; but on the 13th and 14th April last these animals 

 presented modifications which enabled approaching oviposition to be 

 foreseen. The abdomen of the females had attained a considerable 

 development : in the males the labia of the cloaca were inflated ; 

 the tail, usually rounded, had acquired an elevated form, in conse- 

 quence of the development of a vertical crest, which was particu- 

 larly marked at the upper part of the organ, upon which it con- 

 siderably exceeded the level of the dorsal line. M. Desguez, atten- 

 dant in the menagerie, was even a witness of the copulation at 

 this period. The first oviposition, which commenced on the 17th 

 April, continued on the two or three following clays ; a second took 

 place on the 1 2th May ; and at present there exist in the menagerie 

 about from seventy to eighty veiy lively and well-developed tad- 

 poles. Some of the first hatched have even acquired, in less than 

 three months, a comparatively considerable size ; they do not 

 measure less than 0*10-0-12 metre ; their integument is marbled 

 with green, with whitish spots more apparent than in tho adult 

 Axolotls, of which, however, they present all the external cha- 

 racters. 



The fecundity of the transformed Axolotls being no longer con- 

 testable, one is led to recognize that they must be regarded not as 

 an aberrant form, resulting, to some extent, from a pathological 

 modification (an opinion maintained by a certain number of authors 

 and still accepted by some foreign naturalists), but as a normal 

 metamorphosis conformable to the commonly known cycle among 

 the Urodela. These animals, under certain biological conditions 

 which have still to be determined, may, it is true, reproduce in 

 two states — the larval state, and the state of complete development ; 

 nevertheless this is a fact which is not without its analogues among 

 the lower Vertebrata and certain Articulata, according to a remark 

 made as long ago as 1868 by Prof. Blanchard*. — Comptes Hindus, 

 July 14, 1879, p. 108. 



* Comptes Rendus de la reunion do la Sodt'te ILlvi'tiquo, a Einsiedelu. 



