A “ MONSTROUS EFT” 
saw the axolotl in the lake of Mexico, and very probably 
ate it upon toast. Anyhow, the descendants of his 
followers do at this day. 
THE GIANT SALAMANDER 
“A monstrous eft,” wrote Tennyson, was lord of all 
in past eons. At the present moment a distinctly 
monstrous eft is lord of a smaller portion of the earth’s 
surface, of certain streams, that is to say, in Japan. 
This animal, known as Megalobatrachus japonicus, or 
Sieboldia maxima, has been frequently exhibited at the 
Zoo, since the year 1860, when the first example was 
obtained. The specimens at the Gardens do not, as a 
rule, indicate the colossal size to which this, the largest 
of existing amphibians, attains. But recently, at any 
rate, an individual of very fair proportions was alive ; 
this newt measured about four feet. The “ outside” 
length appears to be as much as five feet. The illus- 
trious German naturalist, von Siebold, brought back 
from Japan the very first specimen ever exhibited in 
Europe, so long ago as 1829; and the animal—there 
were originally two, but the larger devoured his mate 
—lived until the year 1881. To anyone familiar with 
the aspect and general demeanour of this great newt, 
its longevity will not come as a surprise. It passes its 
days, and, so far as one knows, nights, in a state of 
almost lethal repose. So little agitation is there of the 
body and mind that the difficulty is to understand why 
it should die at all; and it is plain that if a specimen 
of unknown age lived in captivity and therefore pre- 
sumably under disadvantageous conditions for fifty 
years, its normal life might be indefinitely stretched 
out. 
In its native Japan the eft is termed “ Hansaki,” 
** Hazekoi,” or ‘‘ Anko.” It inhabits mountain streams 
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