338 M. ETHEL COCHRAN. 



The red-back's activities in the water are interesting. Jordan 

 says it "rarely or never enters water." Miss Whipple has 

 described it well: "Although certain lungless species may be 

 more or less aquatic, their activities, even in water, are terrestrial. 

 Various species will at first, when in an aquarium, swim to the 

 surface, then around and around the edge of the aquarium as 

 if seeking a means of escape, but at the instant active swimming 

 ceases, the body sinks clumsily and heavily to the bottom, where 

 they remain until disturbed or until another effort is made to 

 escape. Lungless forms show on the whole little power to adapt 

 themselves to aquatic life. Most are terrestrial in habit, some, 

 Plethodon cinereus and Pletliodon glutinosus, being found far 

 from any water supply. 



"The nares close as soon as the animal is submerged in water 

 and remain so as long as the animal is in water. In a few cases, 

 there were attempts at a feeble bucco-pharyngeal respiration, 

 but even then the external nares were closed and water was 

 drawn in and expelled through the slightly opened mouth." 



Salamanders in the laboratory seem able to endure extreme 

 cold, for in a vivarium the water was found with a thick coating 

 of ice, but the salamanders were apparently unaffected. 



The latest date of finding a salamander out of doors in the 

 fall of 1909 was November 13. The first specimens this spring 

 (1910) were found on March 20, on a warm, southern slope free 

 from snow. At this time there was still much ice and snow in 

 the woods all about. In midwinter, Montgomery says the sala- 

 manders are found deeper in the ground. 



FOOD AND FEEDING HABITS. 



Regarding the frogs, salamanders, etc., Dr. Hodge says in 

 "Nature Study and Life," "with one or two exceptions . . . 

 they are all valuable insect destroyers, each for its peculiar 

 haunts; they should be generally protected and utilized as bene- 

 ficent forces in nature." 



The red-back, like other amphibians, prefers live, moving 

 food. On several occasions, bits of meat placed in the vivarium 

 remained untouched for days and became covered with mould 

 while if a piece were moved before a salamander, it was taken 



