112 



URODELA 



CHAP. 



grey. The length of the adult male is about half a foot ; the 

 females, as usual being larger, sometimes reach the length of 

 9 inches. The range is from New York to California and to 

 Central Mexico. 



The larva of this species is the famous Axolotl. It is 

 provided with three pairs of delicate and much-branched external 

 gills, a flat, long tail with a broad ventral and dorsal fin, the latter 

 extending along the back almost to the neck. The limbs, 

 although comparatively slender, are fully developed, and the head 

 is much more pointed than it is in the perfect form. The larvae 

 usually reach 8 or 9 inches in length ; exceptional specimens 



Fig. 22. — Axolotls or larvae oi AmUystoma iigrinum. x \. 



have been recorded of one foot in length, and have been described 

 as Triton ingens. 



These larvae were found by the Spanish conquerors to occur 

 in great numbers in the lakes near Mexico City, and were called 

 Axolotl by the natives, a word signifying " play in the water." 

 They were, and are still, eaten, either roasted or boiled, with 

 vinegar or cayenne pepper. 



For many years these creatures were looked upon as a 

 species of the Perennibranchiata, under the generic name of 

 Sircdon (S. axolotl, s. pisciformis, s. mexicanus, etc.), althougli 

 Cuvier suspected that they were but the larvae of an otherwise 

 unknown terrestrial Urodele. The mystery was not cleared up 

 until the year 1865, when some Axolotls which had been kept 

 for a year in the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, suddenly began 



