FIELD BOOK OF PONDS AND STREAMS 



Fig. 293. — Young adult red salamander, Pseudo- 

 frit on ruber. 



irregular black spots scattered over their backs (Fig. 293). 

 Their sides and under parts are lighter, unmarked and so 

 transparent that the pulsations of the heart can easily be seen 

 through the body wall. 



Habits, habitat. — Like the two-lined salamander, it crawls 

 under flat stones, sometimes in swampy places, but more 

 often in small streams; in winter it lies beneath stones in 

 shallow rapids. This is a lungless salamander which takes 

 oxA,'gen through its throat membrane and moist skin. It takes 

 little risk of drvdng, keeping to water or damp places, moving 

 about only at night. 



Food. — Its diet of worms and insects is similar to that of 

 other salamanders. 



Breeding habits. — The red salamander la3^s its fifty or more 

 eggs in the fall, gluing them to the underside of a stone where 

 they are in the constant wash of the current. The eggs are 

 clustered in small patches of a dozen or two but each one is 

 attached separately by a jelly-like stalk. 



Life history. — Although the eggs hatch in October or 

 November, the larvse remain relatively inactive through the 

 winter months, but in spring they begin feasting upon little 

 crustaceans or anything else which is lively and within their 

 capacity; by mid-spring they are about an inch long. When 

 they are about four inches long and two 3^ears and a half old 



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