On the 1Stli of July the young Salamander, as represented above, had arrived at the maturity of its tadpole state, and it is represented watching a small Mollusk to ascertain whether it ie living and fit for prey. Ituscoui found that on this day the gills appeared rather shorter than on the day before. On the next day the leaflets at the extremities of the gills were obliterated, and the gill-stem itself was shortened. On the 27th of July the Salamander had lost even the smallest trace either of gills or of branchial apertures. It respired atmospheric air only, and having arrived at its perfect state, made strong efforts to escape from the vessel in which it had undergone its metamorphosis.
In its complete state this species habitually lives in the water, and is seldom to be found on land unless the pond which has been its abode is dried up, and the animal finds itself obliged to walk in search of another_ Thedevelopment of the Common Smooth Newt (Lissotriton punc talus, Bell ; Triton punc talus, Auct. ; Triton palustris, Laur. • Sala mandra punciataDaud.; Molge punctata, Mem ; Salamandra exigua, Ruse.; and Brown Lizard of Pennant) was also ob served by Rusconi; but it did not require parti cular notice, being very similar to that of Triton eristates. Triton punc talus, however, showed itself much the more brisk animal of the two; and the lashings of the tail of the male in his approaches to the female were much more rapid.
Salamandra.
Head thick ; eyes large ; gape of the mouth ample ; tongue broad ; palatine teeth arranged in two long series ; parotids large ; body sprinkled with many small glands ; toes free ; tail rather smooth.
Example, Salamandra maculate, Lanr.
This species is black with yellow spots,and has numerous prominent warty excreseences on the sides; tongue very large ; palatine teeth spatuliform; toes smooth.
This is the Salamandra of Gesner ; Salamandra terrestris of Aldrovandus, Ray, and others ; Salamandre de Terre of the French ; and Gejleckte Erd-Salamander of the Germans.
It inhabits Central Europe and the mountainous parts of the south of Europe.
The Land Salamander, unlike the Tritons, is ovoviviparous, though the young at first inhabit the water and undergo metamorphoses till they arrive at the mature state which fits them for living upon land, where they haunt cool and moist places, being not unfrequently found about fallen timber or old walls. Their food principally consists of
insects, worms, and email molluscous animals. In the winter they retire to some hollow tree or hole in an old wall, or even In the ground, where they coil themselves up, and remain in a torpid state till the spring again calls them forth.
The body of the Salamander is largely covered with warty glands. These secrete a milky fluid of a glutinous and acrid nature like that of the toad, which, if not capable of affecting the larger and more highly-organised animals, appears to be a destructive agent to some of thosci which are leas highly organised. Thus Laurenti provoked two gray lizards to bite a Salamander, which at first attempted to escape from them, but being still persecuted ejected some of this fluid into their mouths ; one of the lizards died instantly, and the other fell into convulsions for two minutes, and then expired. Some of this juice was introduced into the mouth of another lizard ; it became convulsed, was paralytic on the whole of one side, and soon. died.
This is the only foundation for the long-cherished notion that the Salamander was one of the most venomous of animals. Nicander, in his ' Alexipharmaca; gives an appalling pictnre of the symptoms pro duced by its bite. The Romans looked on it with horror, as most destructive ; and considered it as deadly a part of the poisoner's laboratory as aconite or hemlock. Hence came a proverb that he who was bitten by a Salamander had need of as many physicians as the animal had spots ; and another still more hopeless : " If a Sala mander bites you, put on your shroud." Not only was its bite considered fatal and the administration of the animal itself taken internally believed to be deadly, but anything that its saliva had touched was said to become poisonous. Thus, If it crept over an apple-tree, it was supposed to poison all the fruit with its saliva ; and even herbs on which the fluid fell were believed to affect those who tasted them with vomiting. These fables had taken such strong hold, that it was thought worthy of record in the Acta Acad. Nat. Cur.' that a man bad eaten a Salamander, which his wife had put into his food in the hope of becoming a widow, without suffering any inconvenience.