The New Student's Reference Work/Salamander

Sal′aman′der, a tailed amphibian, with a body shaped like a lizard and often mistaken for one of those reptiles. The group includes mud-puppies, newts and the like. They are abundant in many places both in the Old and the New World. Several kinds of Amblystoma are very common in the United States. The commoner forms are six to eight inches long. They have blunt noses, and are dark-colored with yellow spots and blotches. They lay their eggs in quiet waters, preferring small ponds in which the water is easily warmed. The eggs are hatched into tadpoles, with external gills. The tadpoles grow to a length of five or six inches before the gills are dropped and replaced entirety by lungs. The adults live on land, going into the water to lay eggs. Some salamanders, like the Mexican axolotl and the common mud-puppy (Necturus), live habitually in the water and retain their external, feather-like gills throughout life. The salamanders are divided into those which retain and those which lose their gills. Most salamanders lay eggs, but one form (Salamandra atra), living on the Alps, brings forth living young. Though regarded with fear by many people, salamanders are harmless.

COMMON MUD-PUPPY, WITH EXTERNAL GILLS