HERPETOLOCxY OF JAPAN. 23 



orange underneath and not blood-red, as D. injrrhog aster . (See 

 Stimpson's notes as given in the footnote/') 



Variation. — Our 0-shima specimens seem to be browner, though 

 this may be due to fading, and are unspotted underneath. On the 

 other hand, the Okinawa specimens are blotched with blackish after 

 the fashion of D. pyrrliogaster. Whether there is any constant differ- 

 ence in the coloration of the specimens from the tw^o islands can not be 

 decided from the specimens at hand, nor whether any structural 

 difference exists between them. Large series of fresh material repre- 

 senting both species in the corresj^onding stages would be required 

 for the purpose. 



Hahitat. — This salamander was first collected during Commodore 

 Perry's expedition in JMay, 1853, by ;Mr. W. Heine, in the Loo Choo 

 Islands, but it was first recorded from specimens brought home by 

 the Rodgers North Pacific Surveying and Exploring Expedition. Ac- 

 cording to Ilallowell's account of the herpetology of this expedition, 

 specimens were collected by Messrs. Squires and Macomb in April, 

 1855, on Amakarima Isle (Kerama sliima), while others were from 

 the northern half of Oushima — i. e., Amami-o-shima. The latter 

 were collected by W. Stimpson, but, as shown below^, they proba- 

 bly came from Kakeroma shima. Since then various collectors 

 have obtained it in the Riu Kius. Thus the U. S. National Museum 

 has received two specimens (48a) from the Science College Museum, 

 and there are three in the British Museum — one from one of Pryer's 

 collectors, the two others from Hoist. It has not been recorded 



a Hallowell's statements and Stimpson's manuscript notes are at variance, and it is 

 impossible now to straighten out the tangle. Only one set of si^ecimens liroughthome 

 l)y the expedition has been preserved, viz, three specimens numbered 7410 U.S.N.M., 

 which are uniform underneath without black blotches. 



These, according to Ilallowell (p. 494), should ]je I he No. 53 of the (original) catalogue 

 and come from " Ralousima" •''the northern half of Ousima proper." Besides these he 

 mentions "specimens marked No. 5, found in the paddy fields at the Amakarima Isle 

 Loo Choo, April, 1855, liy Mr. Squires and Mr. Macomb." 



Now, turning to Doctor Stimpson's manuscript catalogue we find the following 

 entries: 



"Ou. 53. Salamander? found in muddy pond holes among the mountains, and in 

 damp places in thickets [Ousima scratched out by W. S.j April [and substituted] Kato- 

 nasima I. (the S. half of Ousima) (Wright) [here follows a sketch of the two islands — the 

 northern inscribed Ousima, the southern Katonasima]. Above black, below deep ver- 

 milion with black spots and patches." 



" Am.-5. Salamander? found in the paddy fields at the Amakirrima Isles (Loo Choo) 

 April, 1855 (Mr. Squires and Mr. Macomb)." 



In the first place, I can find on no map and in no gazetteer sucli a name as "Ralou- 

 sima," and one wonders if Hallowell's manuscript can have had "real Ousima." In the 

 second place, Stimpson's "Katonasima " is plainly Kakeroma shima. It then seems 

 probabl(> that Ilallowell got mixed up and wrote northern where he should have 

 written southern. 



