1856.] 101 



May m, 1856. 



Vice-President Bridges in the Chair. 



Mr. Darand presented for publication in the Journal a paper, enti- 

 tled, " Plantse Kaneauae Arcticee et Polaris. An Enumeration of the 

 Plants collected by Dr. E. K. Kane, U. S. N., in his first and second 

 voyages to the Polar Regions, with descriptions and remarks ;" which 

 was referred to a Committee consisting of Drs. Zantziuger, Bridges, and 

 Uhler. 



Dr. Hallowell remarked that the most abundant of the urotleles in the 

 neighborhood of Philadelphia, is the Plethodon (Desmognathus, Bd.) niger, 

 which may be said to exist by thousands. It is found under stones along the 

 borders of rivulets near the banks of the Schuylkill, and is very quick in its 

 movements, its capture demanding close attention and much activity. It appears 

 to be endowed with a higher degree of vitality than the other caducibranchiates 

 with which it is associated. Its transformation is sooner effected ; specimens one 

 inch and a half in length, being without gills, while the larvaj of Pseudotriton 

 ruber are found more than three inches in length. 



The Salamandra quadrimaculata of Prof. Holbrook is identical with this 

 animal ; the red spots are observed in quite young specimens as well as those 

 more matnre, but disappear with age. It is very abundant, a large proportion 

 of the specimens being thus spotted. 



The urodeles most frequentlj^ met with in the neighborhood of Philadelphia 

 after the niger are Pseudotriton ruber and Plethodon erythronotus. The former 

 occurs in the same localities with the niger, but is much less active, though 

 perhaps more tenacious of life. The young are of a bright red color spotted 

 with lilack ; as age advances the color deepens, resembling Spanish brown 

 (maculata, Green,) and in very old specimens is of an almost purple color ; the 

 younger larvfe are white, the older olive colored with dark spots. 



At the present time, April 28th, 1856, the females of both Plethodon niger 

 and Pseudotriton ruber are distended with eggs,* as many as seventy being 

 counted in the ovaries of the former. They are of a yellow color, about a line 

 in diameter; none are to be seen in the oviducts ; the number of eggs is not 

 always the same in both ovaries, being sometimes considerably greater in one 

 than the other. The eggs in many of the specimens of Pseudotriton ruber are 

 immature, perfectly white and quite small. In the stomach of one of the 

 latter a large lumbricus was found, in another the remains of a coleopterous 

 insect, and in a third the tail and posterior extremities of a Salamander, proba- 

 bly a young Plethodon niger. 



Spelerpes (Cylindrosoma, Tsch.) bilineata, is found in the same neighborhood, 

 and also Plethodon erythronotus, the latter under stones, at some distance from 

 the water, associated with Plethodon cinereus. In one specimen the stripe along 

 the back was of a beautiful pink color. 



Mai/ 13//i. 

 / Vice-President Bridges in the Chair. 



Letters were read 



From Mr. F. B. Meek, dated Albany, 10th May, 1856, acknowledging 

 his election as a Correspondent of the Academy. 



From Mr. Edward Tuckerman, dated Amherst, od May, 1856, trans- 

 mitting the collection of Plants acknowledged at the last meeting. 



From E. Billings, Esq., dated Ottawa, West Canada, 6th May, 1856, 



* June 26th, females of niger in same condition. 



PROCEED. ACAD. NAT. SCI. OF PmLADELPHIA, VOL. VHI., NO. III. 8 



