ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY' HULLETIN 



>8i 



SPECIMENS OK THE AXOLOTL, NEW YORK AQIARIUM. 



Dr. ^leek, like Professor Cope, studied l)oth 

 forms in their native localities. He says the 

 Mexican axolotl and the larva; of .1. tigrinum of the 

 same size do not look alike and believes that the 

 former has not yet been demonstrated to have 

 passed the stage of external gills. 



He is of the opinion that all so-called axolotls, 

 studied in aquariums in Europe and elsewhere and 

 observed to lose their gills and to breed in the 

 larval stage, have been .1. //^r/«)(w. It is certain 

 that all specimens in the New York Aquarium 

 and the New York Zoological Park belong to 

 that species. 



Dr. Meek collected many specimens of Ambly- 

 stoma tigrinum, in both larval and adult stages, in 

 a locality about forty miles west of the city of 

 Chihuahua. He then got "a.xolotls" from Patz- 

 cuaro Lake and other lakes near the city of Mexico. 



It is possible that the axolotls from lakes in the 

 arid region about the city of Mexico do not pass the 

 larva! stage. 



\n etl'ort will be made to procure specimens from 

 the latter region for the purpose of determining 

 whether Amblystoma mexicantim really passes 

 through the stages already demonstrated to occur in 

 .1 mhlystoma tigrinum. 



THE AXOLOTL. 



One of the above specimens photographed four years later, in 1905. 



