Vol. XL June, 1906. No. i 



BIOLOGICAL BULLETIN 



THE NASO-LABIAL GROOVE OF LUNGLESS 

 SALAMANDERS. 



INEZ L. WHIFFLE. 



So far as I have been able to ascertain, there is no mention in 

 scientific literature of a very definite external feature of certain 

 salamanders to which, because of its location, I have given the 

 name, naso- labial groove. This groove, which extends from the 

 latero-ventral angle of the external naris in a practically vertical 

 direction to the edge of the upper lip, I have found in the follow- 

 ing species, a list which includes nearly every genus of the Des- 

 mognathidce and Plctlwdontidce, all, in fact, which I had the op- 

 portunity to examine : 



PLETHODONTID/E. 



Batrachoseps attemtatits, Plethodon cinercus, 



PletJiodon erythronotus, Plethodon glntinosns, 



Gyrinopliilus porphyritiats, Mancuhts quadridigitatus, 



Spelerpes bilineatus, Spelerpes longicaudus, 



Spclerpes gnttolineatus, Spelerpes ruber, 

 A 21 todax htgn bris, 



DESMOGNATHID^E. 



Desvwgnatluis fusca, Desmognatkus brinilyonini. 



This feature is not only apparently characteristic of the Plctlio- 

 dontidce and Desmognathidcz, but is evidently peculiar to these 

 families. None of the representatives of the other families of 

 the Salamandrida 1 which I have examined possess it, neither 



1 The species of salamanders in which I have found no naso- labial groove are as 

 follows : Salamandra maculosa, Triton cristatus, Triton alpestris, Triton helveti- 

 ctts, Diemyctyltts viridescens, Amblystoma punctatum, A. opacniii, A. talpoidettni, A. 

 jeffersoniamim, Salamandrina perspicillata. 



