THE BIOLOGY OF THE RED-BACKED SALAMANDER. 



333 



decaying logs, while Montgomery found them near West Chester, 

 Pa., "at all seasons, never in streams or boggy places, but in 

 woods and hillsides beneath wood and stones, a strictly ter- 

 restrial species," Kingsley, on the other hand, claims " Ple- 

 thodon cinereus is found everywhere in woods, under bark, logs 

 and stone, in comparatively dry places." Miss Whipple speaks 

 of its "being found far from any water supply." 





Overturning a stone discloses a red-back at home. (Photograph by Dr. Miller.) 



During a year's study of the species, they have been found 

 in both damp and dry places, within five feet of a pond's edge 

 and on rather dry, high slopes. In the daytime, they are always 

 concealed. In one case, near a spring, a large sawdust pile that 

 contained several planks furnished an abode for several sala- 

 manders. 



One damp, dark day, when the rain was falling gently, three 

 medium-sized individuals were found on the surface of the 

 ground near stones from beneath which they had evidently come. 

 In the same locality, five were found beneath stones; two were 

 so placed that it seemed as if I had frightened them in before 



