The Inhabitants of the Aquarium 249 



frequently stay for a long time on land, it 

 is only under certain conditions that they 

 are suitable inmates for the aquarium. Al- 

 though the collector may find a salamander 

 in the net together with a fish, it by no 

 means follows, that it should be placed in 

 the aquarium under the same conditions as 

 the fish. If this is done without giving it 

 the opportunity to leave the water whenever 

 it feels the desire to do so, it simply means 

 death by drowning. Such amphibians as 

 remain in the water constantly are excep- 

 tions. Some stay in the water during the 

 mating time; others spend the first part of 

 their lives, that is before they attain their 

 final development, in the water, leaving it, 

 however, as soon as they change from the 

 state of larva into that of perfect animal. 

 While some prefer the neighborhood of the 

 water or moist places, others live on trees 

 or in dry places at quite a distance from 

 any moisture. Here we enumerate and de- 

 scribe only a limited number of such amphib- 



