416 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.53. 



Description. — Vomerine teeth in a scarcely arched series, their base 

 on a bony ridge. Parasphenoid series long, narrow, and entirely 

 separate. 



Mandibular dentition of adult male as follows : The teeth are large 

 and confined to the part of the jaw anterior to the eye. The outUne 

 of the jaw is very strongly flexuous. 



The tail usually shows no trace of a dorsal keel, but is cylindrical 

 throughout and marked by strong segmental grooves as in the tail 

 of Pleihodon erythronotus. The tail is quite long proportionally, being 

 frequently longer than the head and body. The tail of the female is 

 longer than that of the male. Males reach a larger size than do 

 females. The number of costal interspaces between the appressed 

 toes is four. 



The head length is from four to four and a haK in the length of 

 head and body. The head width is from five and a half to six in the 

 length of head and body. The skin of the head is smooth. There is 

 usually no tubercle in the anterior angle of the eye. By far the great 

 majority of specimens seen lack it, but it is present in four specimens 

 from Shokan, New York. The costal grooves are regularly fourteen. 

 The color of this form is quite constant. The belly is always very 

 light. The dorsal surface in old and large specimens is black. In 

 all specimens in which the markings can be made out the dorsal 

 surface is very fight and there is a very dark, broad lateral band. 

 The upper edge of this lateral band is straight and definite. The 

 lower edge is indefinite, as the band gradually merges into the pale 

 color of the ventral surface. Sometimes there are a few small spots 

 along the median dorsal line. This occurs in medium and large 

 specimens. Young specimens have the dorsal area immaculate and 

 the color of it may be pink or yellow. 



There is never any trace of the dorsal spots so conspicuous in the 

 young of most other species of the genus. The black lateral band 

 extends the length of the tail as does the light dorsal band, and the 

 color of the tail is quite as characteristic of this species as is the 

 shape of the tail. 



Habits. — Cope (1889) claims that ochropJiaea is strictly terrestrial, 

 being found "under the bark of every fallen log of hemlock (Abies 

 canadensis) and in the debris of the dark, damp forests of the North. 

 I never saw one iu the water of streams and river banks, the habitat 

 of the other species of the genus." 



Fowler (1906) gives an account of the habits of this species. Unfor- 

 tunately he did not distinguish between this species and fusca, but 

 of the 316 specimens in the Academy of Natural Sciences, collected by 

 him in Potter and McKean Counties, Pennsylvania, 308 are ochropTiaea 

 and 8 Sbrefusca. He says: "It was found everjnivhere in the valleys, 

 about and in streams, and on the comparatively dry mountain tops, 



