Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-09-16
THE UNIQUE sALAMANDER.
Described BY Ancient NaturaIists Who
Agreed II Was d Reptile.

Nearly everyone knows something
| of the mastodon and mammoth and
the other great prehistoric animals
but what of the smaller ones? Take
the life history and traditions of thai
little batraehian, the salamander. de-
scribed and figured by the ancient
naturalists, Aristotle. Pliny, de
Thaun, Porta, Marco Polo ano
Browne, as well as by those of the
present day.
The salamander is not an especially
attractive animal. simply small
amphibian resembling a lizard but
without scales, having n soft, mois
skin colored in spots or bands q
yellow. orange or brown. In it's earl,
life it has an aquatic iarvai stage
but in later life it puts aside such
childish things as gills, and, develop.
ing lungs, becomes air breathing an6
behaves like an ordinary reptile. Fol
its habitat it chooses dark and ,;dml
places where II leads q quiet, peace.
ful life feeding on aquatic worms, in
sects and very small animals.
One must go back to the mediaeva'
days for the first reports of this an
imal. The ancients all agreed tina
The salamander was small reptile
a lover of cold and wet, never Ven.
turing from its lair except in rain,
weather. Ii was believed by some
that possessing a frigid and mois
nature it was only necessary for g
salamander To come in contact witt
a fire 10 extinguish ii, just as If it
81
others held that ii lived and thrive6
in fre-two very adverse beliefs
confused by nearly all early writer
and yet left uninVestigated for cen
uries. The fire-resisting charm wa.
even accorded TO certain gnomes an
sylphs, as we'll as to the fair waite
nymph, Undine. And so in fable an
mythology the salamander existed
for years; considered both fireproo
and fire. extinguishing.
Eventually q scientist named Pliny
more practical than his confreres
decided to find the truth of the mat
ter; securing salamander he put /
into a fire, where the early victim
scientific research was immediatel
consumed while the fire continued I,
burn. This satisfied PIiny that bot
he theories We're unfounded, but h
was unable to convince the world a
arge, and so the tradition obtained.
When asbestos was first discovers
1t was thought to be Salamander;
wool and. was made into cloth ant
wearing apparel capable of bein
cleansed by fire instead of water;
rather advanced and sanitary process
for that period. But Browne loos
ened this theory somewhat in his ex
posture of vulgar errors, when he de
slared the salamander to be "a kin
Of lizard, a quadruped with Il
out woole, furre. or haire,' makinI
such wool gathering a most hopeless
undertaking. Ii was Marco Pole
however. who finally demonstrate
that the real flre-p proof substance wa
asbestos, asserting at the same tim
that the salamander must be made o
this material; a mineral and not
beast
To those interested in the scientifi
study of this little reptile pape
written by DR.. Leonhard Stejnege
on three batrachians from Panam
and Costa RIGA will appeal This pa
per is publication 1857 of the Proceed
ings of the National Museum, an
deals with two curious tree toad
from Panama and a brand new sala
mander from Costa Rica This mod
ern animal, little over two and
half inches in length has a smooth
brown skin somewhat striped ir
lighter shade, wide fiat head and
long cylindrical tail. DIR. Steineger
the author, has named the new spe-
cies after the collector, C. Picado. who
discovered it in La Estreila, south
east OF Cartago, Costa Riea.-Brook-
Ign Standard Union.