_Triton marmoratus_ (Marbled Newt, fig. 122), which is met with in damp and dark places, in Portugal, Spain, South and Central France, and as far north as the Forest of Fontainebleau. _Cryptobranchus japonicus_ (Great Japanese Salamander, fig. 123), which often exceeds 1 metre in length, and has a clumsy body covered with large warts, and an enormous head, broad behind and flattened in front. This giant salamander is now confined to a few provinces in the centre of Japan, between long. 34° and 36°, in damp, shady places, from 200 to 800 metres above sea-level. It is eaten by the Japanese, who also use it as a remedy for, or prophylactic against, contagious disorders. By nature it is extremely sluggish, but tries to bite when irritated, and then covers itself copiously with slime. [Illustration: FIG. 121.--_Salamandra maculosa_ (Europe and North Africa).] [Illustration: FIG. 122.--_Triton marmoratus_ (male). (Europe.)] The venom secreted by salamanders evidently serves to protect these creatures against their enemies. So long ago as 1866, Zaleski[149] isolated from it a substance soluble in alcohol, insoluble in ether, and with a very strong alkaline reaction, to which he gave the name _salamandarin_. This substance, which is better known to-day as _salamandrine_, has been studied afresh by A. Dutartre,[150] Phisalix and Langlois,[151] and subsequently by Edwin and S. Faust.[152] [Illustration: FIG. 123.--_Cryptobranchus japonicus_ (Great Japanese Salamander).] The action of this poison on the frog is characterised by a period of violent convulsions, with general tetanic crises, followed by a period of paralysis, with arrest of respiration and complete muscular relaxation. According to the quantity of poison absorbed, this paralytic period may be followed by death, with arrest of the heart in diastole, or else by return to life, with more or less acute recurrence of convulsions. S. Faust prepares salamandrine by pounding up whole salamanders in a small quantity of physiological saline solution. The thick pulp obtained in this way is filtered. One cubic centimetre of the filtrate, taken as a unit, contains about 5 decimilligrammes of active substance, which can be purified by treating the filtrate with alcohol, which dissolves the salamandrine and precipitates all the proteic substances that give biuret reaction. The salamandrine thus freed from proteins is saturated with sulphuric or phosphoric acid, when there is formed a crystallisable salt, which is washed and dried. This salt is soluble in alcohol and in water. Its chemical composition is as follows:-- C^{52}H^{80}Az^4O^2 + H^2SO^4.