AXOLOTLS. 
299 
The tarantolina, as this salamander is termed in Italy and Sardinia, inhabits cool, 
shady spots on the flanks of the mountains, where it feeds chiefly upon ants and 
spiders, and is active at all seasons of the year, having been seen abroad even in 
January. Although it appears that the pairing takes place on land, the females 
resort to the water in March to deposit their eggs, those that are the first to arrive 
taking the best places, such as sheltered corners of rock, where the spawn will be 
less likely to be washed away by floods. The young are hatched in about three 
weeks, and generally leave the water in June. In its movements on land this 
salamander is as active as a lizard. 
There are two other existing genera of the subfamily under 
consideration, both differing from the preceding forms in that the 
maxilla or upper jawbone is more or less fully in contact with the pterygoid bone. 
Both have a fronto-squamosal arch, but whereas in Tylotriton this is bony 
throughout, it is ligamentous posteriorly in Pachytriton, which has also the tail 
Other Genera. 
SPECTACLED SALAMANDER (liat. size). 
cylindrical at the base, instead of compressed throughout. The former genus, in 
which the skin is extremely warty, is represented by one species from Siam and 
the Eastern Himalaya, and a second from the Liu Kiu Islands, while the latter is 
known only by a single Chinese form. 
a lotis Although properly speaking the term axolotl applies only to the 
permanent larval form of the Mexican representative of the genus 
Amblystovia, it will be found convenient in practice to make it include all the 
members of that group, whether mature or immature. Together with certain 
other genera, Amblystoma constitutes a second subfamily ( Amblystomatince ) 
distinguished from the Salamandrina3 by the teeth on the palate forming a 
transverse or posteriorly converging series, and being inserted on the hinder 
portion of those bones known as the vomers; as well as by the bodies of the 
vertebrae being cupped at each end. The type genus is specially characterised by 
the palatal teeth forming a nearly straight or angulated series, not separated by a 
space in the middle line; and likewise by the radiating folds of skin on the tongue, 
which are oval or nearly circular in form, with the sides completely and the front 
