SALAMANDERS AND NEWTS 
SALAMANDER makes an unexpectedly in- 
[\ teresting pet, for it seems to have a better 
io% memory than most of its near relatives. 
=-Se\ Mr. Deckert, of the New York Zoological 
Gardens showed me with pride a cage of 
salamanders, which as soon as he tapped the cover 
immediately lifted up their heads in a most expectant 
manner awaiting their food; and Dr. Samuel Henshaw 
writes: ‘‘Among my pets, some large spotted sala- 
manders are my especial favorites, (Amblystoma 
punctatum) some of which I have had even longer 
than the Hylas. They recognize the approach to 
their home, and poke their heads out of the sphagnum 
and take four or five meal worms from the forceps as 
naturally as a dog takes its piece of meat.” 
Various salamanders may be kept in aquaria or 
moss gardens, but the most charming of them all is 
the little orange-colored creature that we find spraw]l- 
ing across woodland paths after summer showers. 
These do not rain down, but they are obliged to do 
their traveling when the ground is wet, otherwise 
they would dry up and die. Thus, these newts make 
a practice of never going out except when it rains. 
The gay little creature (Diamyctylus viridescens) has 
an orange body, ornamented with vermillion dots 
along each side, each dot surrounded with tiny black 
specks; black specks are also peppered along its 
sides. Its greatest beauty lies in its eyes, which are 
black, with elongated pupil, and surrounded with a 
golden shiningiris. It has no eyelids, but the eyes can 
be pulled back into the head, completely out of sight. 
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