78 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



Class BATRACHIA. 



Order Urodela. 

 The Tailed Batrachians. 



1. Amblystoma punctatum, L. — The spotted salamander. 



This salamander when alive is one of our prettiest speci- 

 mens, being of a dark bluish-black color with a number of 

 yellowish-white shining spots on the back and abruptly light 

 olivaceous underneath. The legs are of the color of the 

 under parts, not of the upper. This animal is one of those 

 that uses its tail as an organ of prehension. When taken up 

 and held so that it expects to be dropped, it is its habit to 

 take a hold of some support with the tail and if one is not 

 found at once, the tail is moved about in search of an object 

 that might answer this purpose. 



It is mostly found under decaying logs in damp shady 

 places, but is in no way plentiful : — Drake, St. Louis County, 

 April 24; Butler County, April 16 and July 17; Stoddard 

 County, October 26. 



2. Hemidactylium scutatum, Tschudi. — The scaly sala- 



mander. 

 This is a small species. I copy the description from 

 Cope's " Batrachia of North America," as one of the best: 

 Back, dark chestnut, but above much lighter, both sprinkled 

 with black, the latter more especially along the dorsal line. 

 Snout above, eyes above and in certain lights the furrows 

 above the lateral longitudinal lines light chestnut approaching 

 to golden bronze, faintly clouded in spots with darker. 

 Sides of body finely mottled brown and bluish-white. Head, 

 body, and tail below, chalk white with a tinge of blue. Spar- 

 ino-ly and irregularly marked with rather large black spots ; 

 spots disposed along sides and the white of tail beneath. 

 Central tract unspotted. One or two furrows or constrictions 

 go entirely around the tail behind the vent, marking the narrow 

 base of the tail, which then swells abruptly in many speci- 

 mens. 



Neither the late Professor Cope nor the museum catalogue 



