LIFE HISTORY OF DESMOGNATHUS FUSCA. 263 



egg has thus acquired a short stalk which connects it with the 

 other eggs of the bunch. Whether this is a change which takes 

 place in each individual case during the descent of the eggs 

 through the oviduct and the subsequent reaction upon exposure 

 to air, or whether this is a form of egg string which has been 

 derived phylogenetically from some ancestor in which the egg 

 string was in the rosary form, I am unable to say. The stalk 

 of each egg becomes eventually very much twisted, probably 

 a secondary condition brought about by the movements of the 



FIG. 4. Sketches of egg capsules of Desmognalhus fusca after the larvae have 

 hatched; (a) and (6), the two masses of the same batch of eggs as is shown in Fig. 6; 

 (c) a view of the egg capsules numbered 1-8 of (a), so arranged as to show their 

 probable sequence with relation to the main stalk of the mass, and suggesting the 

 derivation of the form of egg mass from a more primitive rosary form. Approxi- 

 mately twice life size. 



mother among the eggs while brooding them; this twisting tends 

 to increase the length and diminish the diameter of the stalks, 

 thus crowding the points of their mutual attachment nearer 

 together and emphasizing the relationship expressed by H. H. 

 Wilder's comparison of the whole mass of eggs to a bunch of toy 

 balloons. 



The eggs themselves are creamy white, unpigmented spheres, 

 each measuring from 3.5 to 4 mm. in diameter. This large size 

 provides, of course, for a more advanced stage of development 

 at the time of hatching and thus insures the preservation of a 



