ORDER IV. BATRACHIA.—FROGS AND SALAMANDERS. 141 
| terrestrial Salamanders only remain in the water during the tadpole state, 
and when they return to that element to deposit their 
| gos. The aquatic 
| species (the Tritons) live almost entirely in the water. 
One of the most remarkable characteristics of these animals is the power 
which they possess of reproducing their limbs when they have been torn away. 
| According to the experiments of Spollanzani, they renew, many times, succes- 
sively, the same member after it has been severed ; and this with all its bones, 
muscles, vessels, &e. 
by Dufoy) in their recovering after having been long frozen up in ice. 
Another faculty, not less singular, consists (as shown 
The 
egos are fecundated by fluid dispersed in the watery medium, which pene- 
trates with the water into their oviducts. They lay long chaplets of eggs, 
and the young appear fifteen days from the deposition of them, retaining 
Modern 
observers have distinguished several species, the males of which develop 
their gills for a longer or shorter period, according to the species. 
high, membranous, dorsal crests very early in the spring, which are absorbed, 
and the remnants cast off, ere they leave the water, at the end of summer. 
One, with a smooth, olive-colored skin like a frog, and handsomely spotted 
with black, is common in stagnant waters; and two others, with a granu- 
lated skin like a toad, and also spotted upon a much darker ground, and 
punctuated with white, are (the first at least) equally so. All have the 
under parts bright-orange color. Those with granulated skins resemble the 
toads in the capability of remaining without food for a most extraordinary 
period, in a state of imprisonment, having been found occasionally in closed 
cavities, where they must have remained for many years. 
Following the Salamanders, and somewhat allied to them, there are sev- 
eral animals, some of which retain the gills permanently, while others do 
not seem to possess them at all. The latter constitute the genus Menopoma. 
These reptiles are peculiar to North America, and are called by the people 
Fell-benders. 
Among those which have the gills developed are the Menobranchi, the 
Protei, and the Syrens. 
They are about eighteen inches in length. 
The Protez have three toes before, and but two 
behind. The eyes are couched beneath the skin, thus adapting them to 
their manner of living in subterranean waters. 
The Syrens have a body 
shaped much like that of the eel. 
placed a little below the throat. 
They have only two feet, which are 
The head is flattened, and muzzle obtuse. 
They have three branchial crests. They are small animals, although one 
species, Syren lacertina, attains the length of three feet. 
NO. XV. Gl 
