HERPETOLOGY OF JAPAN. 19 



Habitat. — Widely distributed and common, inhabiting streams, 

 ponds, reservoii's, and roadside drains, but probably confined to the 

 lower altitudes. 



Siebold" reported it from Hondo and Shikoku as well as from 

 Kiusin. Doctor Fritze has stated that he found no specimens in 

 Yezo, but that he saw some in the- Sapporo Museum. Doctor 

 Nozawa, however, has emphatically asserted (in letter dated Feb- 

 ruar}' 27, 1901) that this is a mistake, that "there is no record of 

 its presence [in Yezo] and, moreover, no specimen in the Sapporo 

 Museum." 



There are numerous specimens from Nagasaki in the various 

 museums — for instance, in British Museum, the Hamburg Museum, 

 and Museum Senckenbergianum. The United States National Museum 

 has it from Miyazaki, province of Hiuga, Kiusiu, and Dr. Hugh M. 

 Smith reports having observed it in the province of Satsuma. 



The latter gentleman collected a fine series at Kochi, province of 

 Tosa, Shikoku, 



From Hondo we have numerous records. Thus, from Tokyo, 

 Kyoto, Kaga, and Suwa (Okada); from Yokohama (von Martens; 

 Mus. Senckenberg) , Hakone (Indian Mus,; Hilgendorf), Tokyo, 

 and province of Kazusa (Hilgendorf), Lake Biwa (Indian Museum). 

 Jouy collected it on the way between Yokohama and Kobe, and the 

 Challenger expedition brought home specimens fi*om the latter place. 

 In the Hamburg Museum there are specimens collected by T. Lenz in 

 Kawachi Province, and Prof. R. Hitchcock sent us a specimen from 

 Osaka. Dr. Hugh M. Smith collected tliree fine specimens in spring 

 ponds near Kyoto and observed the species in the provinces of Ise 

 and Shima, and from Mr. A. Owston we have a large series collected 

 at Mount Fuji. Finally, British Museum has two specimens from 

 "northern parts of Niphon." 



There is no record of this species from Tsu-shima, but specimens 

 from Iki-shijna, between the latter and Kiusiu are in British Museum.^ 



It would be highly interesting to know how far north this species 

 goes in Hondo and also what its distribution is on the west coast. 

 It is also of the greatest importance that its vertical range in the 

 various provinces shoidd be ascertained and recorded. 



Diemictylus yijrrhogaster is said to occur in China, but the alleged 

 Chinese specimens of this species are either of very dubious origin '^ 



«Introd. Kept. Fauna Japon., p. xvi. 



&Boiilenger, Zool. Anz., XXX, 1906., p. 562. 



c Thus the specimen in the museum in St. Petersburg referred to by Strauch (M^m. 

 Acad. Sci. St. Petersbourg, (7) XVI, No. 4, 1870, p. 51) and obtained from Doctor 

 Schaufuss, the Dresden dealer, who was unable, however, to guarantee the correctness 

 of the locality. The habitat "China" is the more suspicious in this case, as the 

 museum in question also has a specimen of Hynobius nievius from the same source 

 and same alleged locality. (See Strauch, same reference as above, p. 55.) 



