26 Cincinnati Society of Xatiiral History. 



II. DiEMYCTYLUs viRiDESCENS viRiDESCENS, Raf. — Green 

 Triton.— Newt. 



The form viridcrcens of this handsome variety is the only 

 aquatic salamander found in the county, and it .seems to be 

 scarce, but two or three specimens having been secured from 

 cisterns and ponds. The form niiuiatiis, Raf., is more fre- 

 quently taken and is found beneath logs, usually in sandy up- 

 land woods, and always at a distance from water. There is 

 also found a dark colored form, of which a half dozen indi- 

 viduals have been taken ; one large one from the waters of a 

 cistern ; the other five, smaller, from beneath logs near the 

 margin of ponds. They have the back and sides very rough, 

 as in form miniatus, and are 'a'holly devoid of the verniilion spots, 

 which are found in both viridescens and miuiatus. The ones 

 found beneath the logs were taken on November 2. They 

 average two and a half inches in length, and have the back 

 and sides to below the middle almost wholly black. The one 

 from the cistern was taken November 9, and is three and a 

 half inches long. It is less dark than the preceding, the sides 

 being heavily shaded with mottlings of dusky. 



This, perhaps, is but a form of the above variety, the 

 change in color being due to some special environment which 

 it undergoes It is not mentioned by Cope, nor by any one 

 else, as far as I am aware. Prof. O. P. Hay informs me since 

 the above was written that he has a single specimen, similar 

 to the form mentioned, which was taken at Brookville, Ind. 



TRACHYSTOMATA. 



SI REN ID.*;. 



12. vSiRKN KACKRTiN.v, Linn.— Mud Kel. — Siren. 



Three specimens of this rare batrachian have been taken in 

 recent years, two of which are now in the collection of the 

 State Normal School. They were captured in a pond in the 

 river bottoms on March 22, i8qo. The third had been taken 

 the April preceding in a similar locality. Hay records it from 

 New Harmony, and Cope, on the authority of Profs. Coul- 

 ter and Jordan, from Lafayette and the White River, re- 

 spectively. 



