The Inhabitants of the Aquarium 267 



are easily bred. The coloring is a dark 

 brown, irregularly mottled and striped with 

 a deeper, almost black shade of the same 

 color. 



For years the Axolotl in its form as 

 larva has been known and kept as a strictly 



Fig. iio. Mexican Axolotl, Amblystoma mcxicana. 



aquatic inmate of the aquarium. Without 

 the opportunity to leave the water it can 

 be kept indefinitely in the larval state, as 

 the metamorphosis will take place only if 

 the larva is compelled or induced to leave the 

 water. In appearance, the two forms, the 

 larva and the perfect salamander, are 

 quite different. The principal character- 

 istics of the larva are the following: a high 



