The genus is confined to the western sub-region of the palaearctic region, extending over almost the whole of Europe, especially the central and southern parts, and occurring also in Algiers and Syria. The spotted species is the commonest and most widely distributed, being found in nearly all parts of Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. The genus is entirely absent from the British Islands. The black salamander, S. atra, is confined to the Alps of Central Europe, and there only occurs between the limits of 2500 to 10,000 feet of altitude; it is found in the mountains of South Germany, France, Switzerland, and Austria. S. caucasica is only known from one specimen, which was obtained from the Caucasus and was sent to the Paris Museum by Dr Waga.

The food of Salamandra consists of worms and insects, and, like British frogs and toads, the animals can only exist in damp shady localities. As in all Salamandrida, the process of reproduction is commenced by a true copulation, which takes place in spring and summer. The seminal fluid is passed into the female cloaca, where it is received into a tube-shaped receptaculum seminis. The eggs are thus fertilized in the oviduct, but the development takes place under somewhat different conditions in the two species S. maculosa and S. atra. Both species are viviparous; in the former thirty to forty eggs undergo development in the oviducts at one time, and they are brought forth and deposited in stagnant or sluggishly-flowing water when they have reached a stage similar to that of adult Perennibranchiata, the newly-born larvae having long feather-like external gills and a length of 12 to 15 mm. (one-third to one-half an inch). After a period of aquatic life, the larvae pass through a metamorphosis: the limbs appear; the gill slits close up; and the young animals, having reached the adult condition, leave the water for a terrestrial life. In S. atra only the two lowest eggs which pass into the oviducts, one in the duct of each side, undergo development. The rest of the eggs fuse into a mass of yolk material and are devoured by the two developing larvae. In this way the larvae are provided with nutriment during the later stages of development, for in this species they are retained within the body of the mother until they have reached the air-breathing condition and are in all respects similar to the parents. This peculiarity in the process of reproduction bears an obvious relation to the physical conditions of the habitat of S. atra. In the elevated regions that the species inhabits stagnant and sluggish waters are wanting, and therefore the process of reproduction that occurs in S. maculosa is rendered impossible. The black Salamandra has become adapted to its environment (1) by the slight changes in colour and structure which distinguish it from the spotted, and (2) by a modification in its reproductive processes, which eliminates the aquatic stage of existence from the life-history of the individual. It is to be noted that the stage characterized by the presence of pinnate external gills is exhibited by the larva during its development in the oviduct, and the gills doubtless there perform their function. Fräulein von Chauvin made the experiment of taking the larvae of S. atra from the pregnant female when they were in the branchiate condition, and placing them in water to see if they would survive and pass through their metamorphosis under these circumstances. On one occasion the experiment was perfectly successful in the case of one specimen; the rest of the larvae died.

The tailed Amphibia of Europe have from the very earliest times down to the present day been almost universally known in popular language as salamanders, and identified in the popular mind with, the salamander of myth and fable. Besides the species of Salamandra there are, according to Boulanger (Brit. Mus. Cat., 1881), eighteen other species of Urodela in Europe, of which fourteen belong to the genus Triton ( q.v.). Chioglossa lusitanica, Bocage, is distinguished by having a tongue supported anteriorly by a protractile median pedicle and free everywhere else, and by having its tail cylindrical at the base but compressed at the end. It occurs in Spain and Portugal. Salamandrina perspicillata, Tschudi, occurs in Italy; like Chioglossa, it belongs to the Mecodonta and is distinguislied by the following characters :—tongue large, subtriangular, free everywhere except on anterior median line; toes four; tail slightly compressed; a strong bony fronto-squamosal arch. Spelerpes fuscus, Strauch, occurs in Italy and in France in the Alpes Maritimes.