642 | REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS. 
Bennett* observe, can hardly be explained on the supposition that they 
had passed through the larval state. It is probable, therefore, that as 
the Salamandra atra, which lives high up the Alps, is ovoviviparous, and 
Hylodes martinicensts, of Guadaloupe, tf comes forth mature from the egg, 
so our Amphibians, in part at least, under certain circumstances, bring 
forth their young in a perfect condition. 
Again, physical agents exert an important influence upon the develop- 
ments of the animals. Thus the larve if kept in too deep water will not 
develop. They grow, but continue in the tadpole state, unless the 
liquid be shallow. Temperature also plays an important part, it having 
been found that at 60° F. the ova of frogs will develop most rapidly, and 
any diminution of temperature is followed by a corresponding retarda- 
tion of development. The effect of light is rather a mooted question, 
and yet it is probable, from the experiments of Edwards, Higginbottom ft 
and Thury,|| that its presence hastens and its absence retards their pro- 
gress; the latter showing that in a green jar, with other conditions 
equal, tadpoles would not develop, while they did in one constructed of 
ordinary glass, thus rendering this conclusion highly probable. 
Some very recent interesting experiments are recorded on the Sala- 
mandra atra, an Ovoviviparous animal, by Madame von Chauvin.§ It 
was believed that if the young were removed prematurely from the 
mother and placed in water they would adapt themselves to an aquatic 
life. The experiment proved entirely successful, in that one individual 
lost its gills, developed a new pair suited to respiration, and, after four- 
teen weeks residence in water, underwent transformation and became 
a land Salamander. This would seem to indicate, that, at some not very 
distant day, the Salamandra atra and maculosa had diverged from a com- 
mon stock, and that while one continued on in its aquatic mode of re- 
production, the other had, owing to changed conditions, become terres- 
trial. 
As regards the geographical distribution of Reptiles, much might be 
written, but a few facts will only be referred to here. That these ani- 
mals, like the birds, increase in beauty and variety of markings, and in 
their venomous properties as they approach the tropics, is an old observa- 
* Proc. Am. Agss.for Adv. Sci., 1853, p. 230. 
t Am. Nataralist, vol. viii, p. 438. 
t{ Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 3d Ser., vol. 15, p. 376. 
|| Ibidem, 4th Ser., vol. 15, p. 376. See also Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., 1867, p. 169. 
§ Am. Naturalist, vol. xii, p. 468. 
