By the ancients the venom of _salamanders_ and _toads_ was dreaded as much as the most terrible poisons. These animals, however, are not very formidable, since they are devoid of inoculatory organs; their poison-apparatus is localised exclusively in the parotids and the skin. It is represented simply by more or less confluent glands in the form of sacs, secreting a viscid mucus, which has a nauseous odour and is highly toxic, even to animals of large size. The salamander belongs to the Order _Urodela_, which is characterised by the persistence of the tail. Its body is heavy and thickset, and the flanks and the sides of the tail exhibit a series of glandular crypts, which secrete venom. “The mucus which flows from the mouth, and resembles milk, eats away human hair,” wrote Pliny; “the spot moistened by it loses its colour, which subsequently returns. Of all venomous animals the salamander is the most terrible; it is capable of annihilating whole nations by poisoning the vegetation over a vast area. When the salamander climbs a tree all its fruit is poisoned, and those who eat of it die as surely as if they had taken aconite. Moreover, if bread be baked with wood touched by the animal, it is dangerous, and may occasion serious disorders. If the naked foot be defiled with the saliva of this creature, the beard and hair soon fall out. Sextius says that a salamander, preserved in honey, after the removal of the entrails, head, and limbs, acts as a stimulant if taken internally.” In ancient Rome, and also in Mediæval France, it was believed that the most furious fire could be extinguished simply by contact with one of these animals; charlatans sold the inoffensive salamander, which, if cast into the most terrible conflagration, was bound, they declared, to arrest its disastrous progress! The explanation of this superstition is furnished by Duméril, who writes: “On being placed in the middle of burning charcoal, these victims of so cruel a curiosity, when put to the test, instantly allowed to exude from the many pores with which their skins are riddled a slimy humour, sufficiently abundant to form a viscid layer over that part of the glowing charcoal with which the animals were in contact. Since this surface, being no longer exposed to the air, immediately became quite black, it was supposed to be extinguished; but the salamanders sustained such severe burns that they soon succumbed.”[148] The principal species of salamanders are:-- _Salamandra atra_ (Black Salamander), which is found in the Alps and the mountains of Central Europe, close to the snow-line, and up to an altitude of 3,000 metres. _Salamandra maculosa_ (Spotted Salamander, fig. 121), distributed throughout almost the whole of Europe, and also found in North Africa. _Triton cristatus_ (Crested Newt), likewise common all over Europe.