Hurler — Herpetology of Missouri. 'j'j 



swamp near Poplar Bluff, Butler Co. It was a very dark 

 afternoon, just before a heavy thunderstorm, when the 

 yellow spots appeared in the dark as if phosphorescent. 

 Their food consists of earthworms, which they devour 

 with great greediness. The worms are swallowed by a 

 succession of gulps. Prof. S. W. Garman as well as Dr. 

 0. P. Hay observed that the tail is prehensile and used to 

 keep the animal from falling. This species, like the two 

 preceding, A. microstomum and A. tigrinum, when under 

 water draws this in through the nostrils and at intervals 

 expels it by the mouth, which enables it to remain for a 

 considerable time under the water. 



Dates of capture.— li^x ah 6; Apr. 16, 24; Julv 17; 

 Oct. 26. 



8. Ambystoma opacum Gravenhorst. Marbled Salaman- 

 der. 



SaJamandra opaca, Salamandra fasciata, AmMystoma opaca, Amhly- 

 stoma fasciatum, Amblystoma opacum. 



Description. — This species has a short, stout, swollen body, short 

 tail, and weak limbs. Color dark with light colored cross bands. 

 Head rather broad, depressed, its greatest width about three-fourths 

 of the length from snout to gular fold. The gular fold is interrupted 

 at the nape with a constriction behind the angle of the mouth and a 

 lateral groove connecting the tv^fo as in A. punctatiim. Tongue exten- 

 sively free at the sides, with the plicae radiating from behind. The 

 vomero-palatine teeth consist of two lateral and a median series, the 

 interruptions occurring just behind the choanae. Eyes moderate, 

 pupils circular. The neck is distinct. Distance from the snout to the 

 gular fold not quite 3.75 times in that to insertion of hind legs. 



Body nearly cylindrical but decidedly depressed. No dorsal furrow. 

 Eleven well-marked costal grooves, three on the pelvic portion, and 

 some on the base of the tail, becoming fainter towards the end. Tail 

 oval in section, short and stout. The lateral groove is very indis- 

 tinct. Measured from behind the vent it is 1.6 times the length of 

 the head and body. The digits are linear, depressed, without any 

 web. The third finger and the fourth toe are the longest. The plantar 

 tubercles are distinct. The skin is everywhere pitted with minute 

 pores. 



Color. — Dark brown or black. Across the back and upper side of 

 the tail is a series of light gray or silvery transverse bands, which 



