i68 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



brown. This is the largest of our salamanders. Although in form 

 resembling the Spotted Salamander, its blotched appearance 

 makes identification easy. The limbs are large and well de- 

 veloped. A mature specimen from New Jersey shows a total 

 length of 8^ inches; the tail is 3 J inches long, and the head | 

 inch wide. The species is said to attain a length of eleven inches. 



Range: The entire United States and southern Canada ; 

 northern and central Mexico. 



Local Distribution: Rare, but found occasionally on Long 

 Island and in New Jersey. 



Although one of the rarest of the local batrachians, the Ti- 

 ger Salamander is our most interesting species. The metamor- 

 phosis from the larval to the adult form depends largely upon 

 light and temperature, and is strongly influenced by surrounding 

 conditions. In the western and southwestern portions of the 

 United States it is abundant, and throughout those areas, for 

 many years, its larval or tadpole stage was thought to constitute 

 a distinct species, the Axolotl. In permanent lakes of some 

 depth, where the water remains moderately cold and there is 

 abundance of food suitable for the larv^al form, this creature 

 evinces an interesting persistency in retaining the branching 

 gills (branchiae) and continues its aquatic existence for indefinite 

 periods even attaing the size of the terrestrial form. 



More remarkable, however, than tardy metamorphosis is the 

 fact that during this evidently larval state these creatures breed 

 and deposit eggs. In this aquatic form the species has had 

 several different names. In the case of an evaporating pool, 

 slowly drying away under the summer sun, the larv^a finds an 

 opportunity along the shallow borders frequently to employ its 

 nostrils at the surface of the water, with the result that the gills 

 become degenerated and transformation is hastened. 



Adult specimens secrete themselves in burrows, not far from 

 the vicinity of water, although they may be occasionally found 

 hiding under decaying logs, in very moist situations. They prey 

 upon insects and worms, and they even attack larger creatures, 

 when within reach. A specimen in the writer's collection de- 

 voured several very young field mice. Hiding by day, they prowl 



during the hours of darkness or during rains. 



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