Notes on the Batrachians and Reptiles of Vigo Co., Itid. 23 



the salamanders and tree frogs, especially, as out of ten species 

 of the former and four of the latter all but one have been seen 

 here, and nine of the fourteen nowhere else in the county. 



On one afternoon in October a class of fifteen zoology pu- 

 pils took forty-six specimens of salamanders, representing four 

 species, from this place, and on two other occasions the writer 

 has found there six different species of the same animals 

 within less than an hour's time. I have been thus specific in 

 mentioning the above locality, because I believe that upon 

 the character of the soil, rather than upon other conditions, 

 such as latitude, temperature, etc., depends to a great extent 

 the distribution of our batrachians and reptiles. For ex- 

 ample, the genus Sfyc/rrpes is represented in Indiana by three 

 species, bilincatiis, lo)io;icauda and ruber. All of them are rather 

 common throughout the central and southern portions of the 

 State where limestone rocks and a drift or clay soil abound, 

 whereas but a single specimen of one species, bilincatus, has 

 been found in Vigo County, and it was taken, not from the 

 loose sandy soil above mentioned, but from a worn out field, 

 where the soil was wholly clay. 



In the list which follows, the nomenclature and order of the 

 Batrachians is that of Cope's recent and standard work, on 

 "The Batrachia of North America;" while the revised edition 

 of Jordan's "Manual of Vertebrates" has been followed in 

 the naming of the reptiles. Where the .species has been re- 

 corded from not more than two other .stations in the State, 

 those records are mentioned that the list may prove more 

 \-aluable to future collectors. 



BATRACHIA. 



PROTKIDA. 



PROTEID^. 



I. NKCTURUS.MAcrLATUS, Raf. — Water Dog. — Mud Puppy. 



Common in the Wabash River. Specimens two feet long 

 and over are often taken in the Spring and Fall. Although 

 some of the older fishermen have caught hundreds of them, 

 they yet believe the bite of the animal to be very poisonous, 

 and they either crush its head before attempting to remove 

 the hook, or else cut the line and allow it to escape. 



