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aquatic Hit; 



almost any time of the year, under logs 

 and stones in damp places in the woods. 

 The eggs are deposited among moss or 

 under the bark of fallen trees. While 

 this is a strictly terrestrial species, the 

 young are provided with external gills, 

 though they have no use for them. 

 These, however, are absorbed within a 

 few days, and the young are then ex- 

 actly like the parents. 



doctors as the salamander has spots ! 

 This creature was also thought to be 

 able to withstand fire. Aristotle men- 

 tions this myth on hearsay, but Pliny ac- 

 tually tried the experiment and put a sal- 

 amander into a fire. He remarks with 

 evident surprise that it was burnt to a 

 powder ! Even in our own enlightened 

 country the salamander is thought pois- 

 onous bv the illiterate. It seems need- 



■ 



Characteristic Attitudes of the Gray Salamander, Plethodon cinereus 

 Photograph from life by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt 



Like their relatives, the frogs and 

 toads, and the fishes and reptiles, the sal- 

 amanders hibernate during the winter. 



In Europe during medieval times the 

 salamanders bore an undeserved sinister 

 reputation. Many strange powers were 

 ascribed to the inoffensive little animals. 

 One of the old writers advises anyone 

 bitten by a salamander to betake him- 

 self to the "coffin and winding-sheet," 

 and adds that the victim needs as many 



less to add that all our eastern species 

 are entirely harmless. Only one makes 

 any attempt at self defense. The Purple 

 Salamander, says Cope, snaps fiercely 

 but harmlessly and throws its body into 

 contortions in terror. 



We are not prepared to credit the Ban- 

 gor man who says that fishes talk, but 

 we are willing to believe that there are 

 tunes when they laugh at aquarists. 



