TAILED BATRACHIANS 247 



Western Europe, the spots are regularly disposed in two 

 parallel series, continuous with the spots on the parotoids, 

 forming not unfrequently uninterrupted stripes. Even 

 when the two stripes are broken up into as many as a dozen 

 spots, they still retain their duplex disposition, and do not 

 encroach over the black vertebral area, or, if they do so, 

 they are connected in H-like fashion by a cross-bar. 

 Although in this variety the black often predominates over 

 the yellow, it is not uncommon to find specimens in which 

 the reverse takes place, and, in cases where the yellow has 

 so far invaded the upper parts as to actually constitute the 

 ground colour, the black vertebral stripe may be reduced 

 to a mere series of spots. The colour in both these forms 

 varies from lemon yellow to a deep orange. In Portugal 

 a form appears, the variety molleri, in which the spots are 

 as if powdered over with red dust ; some are even blood 

 red, the red colour being particularly conspicuous on the 

 throat and on the spots of the upper eyelids, the parotoids, 

 and those at the base of the limbs. On examination of 

 some living specimens which I kept alive some years ago, I 

 came to the conclusion that the red spots were not due to 

 special pigment, as had been supposed, but to the entire 

 absence of pigment, the pigmentless flesh, highly flushed 

 with blood, being exposed on certain patches. 



According to Kammerer, the geological, climatic, and 

 meteorological conditions of the localities these animals 

 inhabit, influence the markings and their disposition. A 

 warm climate, he says, increases, a cold climate reduces 

 the markings and their intensity ; localities with damp 

 air and soil, provided, in addition, with a great number of 

 watercourses, favour the number, size, and intensity of 

 the yellow spots, whilst, conversely, dryness and scarcity 



