FIELD BOOK OF PONDS AND STREAMS 



(Fig. 292). On the ground the old adults appear plain brown, 

 the flecks of pale blue on their undersides being hardly ap- 

 parent, but on the younger ones the blue is conspicuous and 

 the spots are scattered over the body and the back of the head 

 as well. 



Habits, habitat. — The adults live beneath logs, in rotting 

 stumps, beneath the litter of sawdust piles, and under stones. 

 They migrate to the ponds even earlier than the spotted 

 salamanders. The larvcE live in sphagnum ponds, cold quiet 

 streams and woodland ponds. 



Breeding habits. — They deposit their eggs in email firm 

 masses of jelly attached to submerged twigs, sometimes in the 

 same pond with those of the spotted salamander with which 

 they are confused even by experts. But these eggs are gen- 

 erally laid earlier and in smaller masses, under two dozen eggs 

 in a clump. 



Size. — Length of adult about 6 inches. 



Range. — Hudson Bay to Arkansas, Nova Scotia to Virginia 

 or even further south. 



Lungless Salamanders — PlethodontidcB 



Dusky salamander, Desmognathus fuscus. — Dusky sala- 

 manders stay in crevices and under stones in moist earth 

 near shady streams. The adult dusk}' has a stout body with 

 a reddish brown back and gray under parts (PL XIX). On its 

 back there are two irregular rows of black spots and upon its 

 sides a mottling of black; a white line extends from the eye 

 to the angle of the jaw. 



The larva is uniformly brown on the back except for two 

 rows of small light spots which extend along it upon each 

 side. Its gills are more or less prominent unless the change 

 to adult form has already begun. Both larvae and adults have 

 a peculiar rigidity in their lower jaws, and they use them as 

 entering wedges when they are pushing their way under stones. 

 Whenever a dusky salamander opens its mouth it holds the 



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