CHAPTER II. 
Newts, Salamanders, and Ccecilians,— 
Orders Caudata and Apoda. 
ALPINE NEWTS. 
The newts and salamanders are readily distinguished from the frogs and toads b}?- 
the retention of the tail throughout life. Hence they are collectively designated 
the Tailed Amphibians. Although they have generally two pairs of limbs, in a few 
instances the hind pair is wanting; and in all cases the bones of the limbs are of a 
normal type, the radius and ulna in the front pair, and the tibia and fibula in the 
hind ones remaining distinct from one another. In the skull the frontal bones are 
not united with the parietals, and the palatine bones are distinct from the jaw¬ 
bones or maxillse. Generally more or less lizard-like in form, the Tailed Amphibians 
undergo a less marked metamorphosis than the tailless group, some even retaining 
gills throughout life. As regards their geographical distribution, the salamanders 
and newts, of which there are rather more than one hundred and twenty existing 
species, are mainly characteristic of the Northern Hemisphere, being represented 
only by a few scattered forms in the Southern Hemisphere, and quite unknown in 
Africa south of the Sahara and in Australasia. The northern part of the Old World 
is the home of the true newts, of which four species extend into Northern Africa; 
and it likewise contains one of the fish-like salamanders and the olm. True 
vol. v .—19 
