340 ZOOLOGY 



The hellbender (CrjiDtobranchicUie inhabits the Ohio Valley 

 and the South.'- It loses its gills before it l^ecomes adult and 

 the gills-slits close. It is a ver,y voracious scavenger of the 

 water, bites the hook fierceh', and is noted for its great te- 

 nacity of life under unfavoraljle conditions. The only other 



Fig. .319. — The "Congo .snake" (Amphuima means). From the Report 

 N. Y. Zoological Society. 



li^dng representative of this famil}' is the Japanese giant sala- 

 mander, which becomes three metres long. 



The salamanders (Amblystomidie ^) include some twenty-five 

 species l)elonging to five genera, four of which occur in north- 

 ern and eastern Asia, and the fifth, Amblystoma, is confined 

 to the United States and Mexico, except for one species that 

 occurs in Siam. In this family the external gills are absorbed 



' kryplos, hidden ; hronchion, gill. 2 Y\g. .320. 



^ From ajnblys, blunt ; stoma, tQOUth. 



