212 THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 
born. Thus the old-fashioned Peripatus, 
which we have already spoken of, carries its 
young one for a year before it is born. This 
means that the young Peripatus is able to 
creep about soon after its birth; it hides itself 
under the mother’s body and, after a while, 
under bark. Just in the same way among 
wild horses, which must always be on the 
move, the foal is carried by its mother eleven 
months before birth, and the result is that 
when it is born it is not helpless like a calf 
(which is hidden in a thicket), but is able 
very soon to stagger along beside its mother. 
Among aquatic animals there is in many 
cases a long larval life; among terrestrial ani- 
mals the young are often born as miniature 
copies of their parents from the first. This is 
so even when a land animal is quite closely 
related to one which brings forth its young in 
the water. We saw that the young mountain- 
salamander, which has no water stage, be- 
cause the streams are too swift, is born like 
its parent, while its near relative, the fire- 
salamander of the plains, which goes through 
the early stages of its life in the water, begins 
as a tadpole, and passes through several 
changes before attaining the adult form. 
