The Ohio IAC<^/«/^<^//5/, 



PUBLISHED BY 



The Biological Club of the Ohio State Uni'versity, 



Volume III. MARCH, 1903. No. 5. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



HoumiToN— Muscular aud Skeletal Elements in Spelerpes longicaudus 379 



Taylor— On the Autumnal Songseasou 394 



Ball— Food Plauts of Some Bythoscopidae 397 



The American Association ....". 400 



O. M. B.— Ohio Mycological Club 400 



Derby— :Meeting of the Wheaton Club 401 



GRiGi.iS— Meeting of the Biological Club 402 



MUSCULAR AND SKELETAL ELEMENTS IN 

 SPELERPES LONGICAUDUS.* 



Henry Spencer Houghton. 



The development of one of our commonest species of Salamander 

 affords an opportunit}- for the study of many interesting prob- 

 lems. The author was influenced, however, in taking up a study 

 of the skeletal and muscular elements in Spelerpes longicaudus, 

 by several considerations. In the first place, there is a surprising 

 lack of literature, especially on the latter subject. The question 

 of the origination and development of adult muscles and of the 

 number and function of transitory larval muscles, and of the rela- 

 tion of the two, seems to have been entireh^ neglected. The 

 skeletal elements have been thoroughlj- worked for the adult form, 

 but there are some modifications in the larval skull that have not 

 been touched upon. Secondly, this form is abundant, of wide 

 distribution, and readilj^ obtainable, and this fact together with 

 the facility with which it may be prepared, renders it valuable 

 material for laboratory purposes. The work was done in the 

 Embrj'ological Laboratory of the Ohio State Universit}', under 

 the direction of Professor F. L. Landacre, and was offered as a 

 thesis for the Baccalaureate degree. 



This paper will attempt to cover merely a discussion of the 

 skeletal aud muscular elements of a 12 ram. larva, and will be for 

 the most part descriptive, a few comparisons only being drawn 

 with Rana and Cryptobranchus. 



Spelerpes longicaudus is one of the commonest and most widely 

 distributed species of the Plethodontidae. Its general appearance 

 and markings are similar to Sp. bilineatus, and they are commonly 

 found associated together in nature. Their habits, larval devel- 

 opment and the noticeably longer tail of Spelerpes longicaudus 

 form, however, distinguishing marks. The larval development 

 of vSp. bilineatus is much more rapid than that of its relative ; a 

 9 mm. specimen which I observed had both fore and hind limbs 



■'■Contribution from the Department of Zoology and Entomology, IX. 



