498 DUNN. 



the palatine teeth are exactly alike; but there are only 17 trunk 

 vertebrae; and it has a shorter skull. 



"I can note no external difference between the sexes; the young, 

 which soon lose the gills, resemble the adults save in size." 



Variation: Stejneger (1907) mentions a specimen in the Copen- 

 hagen Museum (No. 33) from the original series. This animal, a 

 male, had the fifth toe rudimentary. I append measurements of two 

 males of the original series taken from Stejneger (1907) and from 

 Boulenger (1882). 



Abe (1921) records a female from Oita Prefecture. It had total 

 length 128 mm., head IS, body 53, tail 57, costal grooves 13, appressed 

 toes meeting. 



Habits: Schlegel (1838) says "purely aquatic," and that Siebold 

 "saw larvae of this species in a spring at the base of Mt. Ho Kwa San 

 near Nagasaki. They swim with much agility so that one might mis- 

 take them at first for little fishes." 



Kunitomo (1910) gives an extended account of the breeding habits 

 near Nagasaki, from which I quote the following. 



"I knew already in the year 1904 that Hynobius was present in the 

 Nagasaki- Yamasatomura Mts., and in the Spring of 1905 I found the 

 pool where every year they lay their thousands of eggs. The moun- 

 tain on which this pool is found is about 600 m. high and unwooded, 

 although bushes and much grass grows there. The west side is a 

 sheer cliff from the peak down about 150 m., and at the bottom of this 

 cliff lies a pool, which is about 3 in. broad, 4 m. long and 30 cm. deep. 

 So little water readies the pool from the cliffside, except in continuous 

 rainy weather, that it has no outlet. When it does not rain at all for 

 many weeks it dries up completely." 



"Hynobius nebvlosus belongs to those Urodeles which lay their eggs 

 very early in the Spring, before the other Japanese salamanders, for 

 its spawning time is between March 10 and April 3, while the local 

 Triton breeds during May and June, and Cryptobranchus during August 

 and September. During the aforementioned period, if the weather 

 progresses so favorably that the animals come out of hibernation, they 

 crawl out here and there and betake themselves to a nearby pool, 

 spring, or brook. According to whether the favorable weather comes 

 earlier or later during the aforementioned period, the animals also 

 appear earlier or later. 



