Conlribulhuis lo /iidiaiia IIcrf>clology. 173 



Spe/erpcs /ongicaiidus, which they greatly resenil^led. Prof. 

 Cope's practiced eye iniinediately perceived that they were 

 not members of the species named, and the results of his 

 examination of the specimens were published in the Ameri- 

 can Naturalist, Vol. XXIV., page 967. Prof. Cope named the 

 species (ivrinophilus-))iaculicaudus, assigning it to this genus 

 because he found the premaxillaries distinct, instead of being 

 anchylosed, as they are in Spclcrpes. The species is otherwise 

 distinguished from Spclerpes longicaudus by having a broader, 

 flatter head ; differently disposed vomerine teeth ; by a ground 

 color of vermilion ; and by a different arrangement of the 

 black spots. The limbs are also longer than those of 5. 

 longicaitdtis. I have had opportunities to examine several 

 specimens, both living and alcoholic, of this beautiful species. 

 Some of these have come to me from Brookville, through the 

 kindness of Messrs. Butler and Quick. Two others had been 

 taken in the vicinity of Bloomington, Indiana, by Prof. B. W. 

 Evermann, of the State Normal School. After making a 

 careful examination of the premaxillaries of several speci- 

 mens of rnaciclicaudiis and comparing them with those of 

 longicaudus, I am compelled to differ from Prof. Cope as to 

 the generic position of this animal. In the case of all the 

 specimens that I have dissected, except one, I find the 

 premaxillaries to be consolidated. I have taken the premax- 

 illaries out, dried them, and examined them with a sufficiently 

 high power of the compound microscope, without perceiving 

 any evidences of a suture between them. I can see but 

 slight differences between the premaxillaries of it and ^S. 

 longicaudus. In Gvrinophilus the premaxillaries are easily 

 separated. In the case of the exceptional specimen men- 

 tioned above, the premaxillaries had been broken by accident 

 just a little to one side of the middle line. Had the fracture 

 been exactly in the middle line, I should have concluded that 

 in this specimen the two bones had not united. This suggests 

 that possibly an accident had happened to the specimen 

 examined by Prof. Cope. If, however. Prof Cope's specimen 

 really had the premaxillaries distinct, while in mine they are 

 anchylosed, the genus Gyrinophiliis can not stand. In anj' 

 case, the species will, according to my view, have to bear 

 the name Spclerpes maculicaudus. 



"This animal is regarded by those who have observed it in 

 its native haunts to be more aquatic in its habits than is 5". 



