. The American natural history; a foundation of useful knowledge of the higher animals of North America. Natural history. THE SALAMANDERS 367. THE TWO LIVES OF THE AXOLOTL. The lower figure shows the wholly aquatic larval form, with gills and tail fins, called the Axolotl. The upper figure shows the same creature fitted for life on land, and known as the Spotted Salamander. imperfect Spotted Salamander back into aquatic life. At first there is a struggle against life under water, but finally the animal becomes adjusted to it. (R. L. Ditmars.) By keeping the larval Axolotl in an aquarium, with
. The American natural history; a foundation of useful knowledge of the higher animals of North America. Natural history. THE SALAMANDERS 367. THE TWO LIVES OF THE AXOLOTL. The lower figure shows the wholly aquatic larval form, with gills and tail fins, called the Axolotl. The upper figure shows the same creature fitted for life on land, and known as the Spotted Salamander. imperfect Spotted Salamander back into aquatic life. At first there is a struggle against life under water, but finally the animal becomes adjusted to it. (R. L. Ditmars.) By keeping the larval Axolotl in an aquarium, with an abundance of water but with no encour- agement nor facilities for breathing air, it not only remains in that stage indefinitely, but it breeds successfully. This species is most abundant in the shallow lakes around the City of Mexico, but it inhabits nearly the whole of Mexico and also a considera- ble area in the southwestern United States. Un- questionably, the wonderful mobility—as it may truly be called—of this creature is for the purposa of enabling it to survive in a region wherein droughts are common, and where the life of an aquatic animal depends upon its ability to change from water to land. Of all members of the Order Urodela, this is to me the most won- derful. Salamanders, Generally.—In shallow brooks, in still pools of all kinds, from the shaded woods of the East to the wind-swept, sun-bathed prai- ries and bad-lands of the West, and both on and in the damp earth of forests high and low, we occasionally find little smooth-skinned, lizard- like animals. They are slow in movement, weak and incapable of either defence or flight, and are at the mercy of almost any species larger than themselves. These are Salamanders, and in view of the fact that some are wholly aquatic and others wholly terrestrial, it is difficult to choose from our sixteen species one which may stand for the majority. The diversity of habit of these animals is greater than their difference
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