THE SALAMANDER.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 4 October 1924, Page 2

THE SALAMANDER.

A batrachia which would NOT GROW UP.

For sheer inanity of expression it would be difficult to surpass the Axoiotal a number of which are to .be seen London Zoo aquarium, writes A.E.H in the Daily Chronicle. These . traclua are certainly more interesting than handsome, though the white variety, with its pink, feathery external gills, i s quite good-looking compared with the typical black form. Denizens of the lakes of- Mexico, where they are. eaten as a delicacy, Axolotl were originally regarded as a purely aquatic species, hut, in the sixties, a number of specimens in Paris astonished the world by performing ■ a wonderful tranforniatmn. Their Kdls and the broad fins along back and tail disappeared, eyelids developed, and yellow spots appeared on the skin, the animals eventually walking out of the water, which they had never been known to leave before, and taking the life .upon land. They were then recognised as a-n already well-known North American terrestial salamander, the Amblystome, and -the surprising discovery was made that Axolotl were merely the young of this bat-rachian which —possibly owing to some climatic, change in Mexico—had become aquatic throughout their existence and bred to the larval form. Since then, Axolotl have become popular as pets, and are commonly forced to change into Amblystomes' by allowing the water in their tank to gradually evaporate or by feeding them upon thyriod gland.