32 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



oppressed for lack of air, and was therefore gasping for breath. As soon as I dis- 

 covered the inward currents through the nostrils, I also detected an outward, rather 

 than an inward, flow at each opening of the mouth. Further observation disclosed 

 the enlargement of the throat as the mouth filled with water from the nostrils, the 

 mouth opening to release the water, and the swelling of the throat subsiding as the 

 mouth was closed. This operation was carried on for hours at a time, when the 

 salamander would rise to the surface of the water, and, keeping its mouth shut, 

 would for perhaps an equally long period breathe air directly into the lungs in the 

 same manner as a frog. I had this specimen under my constant observation for 

 nearly six months, and frequently called the attention of my students to its peculiar 

 mode of respiration. I also had a second individual of this species in my labora- 

 tory in July, 1889, and found the operation repeated in every particular. An ex- 

 amination of the interior of the mouth of these salamanders revealed the presence 

 of numerous ridges or folds of the mucous membrane in the palatal region, sug- 

 gesting a probable respiratory function analogous to that of the gills of the same 

 animals in the larval stage. The accompanying figure, from a drawing by my 

 assistant, Mr. W. C. Stevens, represents the salamander reduced to two-thirds of its 

 natural size. 



CHAKACTERISTIC SAND-HILL FLORA. 



BY PROF. M. A. CARLTOX, GARFIELD UNIVERSITY. 



All along the principal river valleys of Kansas, especially over the broad valley of 

 the Arkansas, numerous hillocks of sand are to be seen, which usually possess a very 

 scanty vegetation. Many of these hills are at great distances from the present river- 

 beds; the waters having long ago left them and receded to the present river-level. 

 In such cases the flora is somewhat more abundant; but in all cases, wherever these 

 hills may be found, so far as the writer's experience goes, the flora is in the main 

 composed of the same species, although in some cases there may be a greater abun- 

 dance of these species than in any others; and, indeed, a few forms may sometimes 

 be added that are purely local. 



I was first led to note these facts during the summer of 1888. In May of that 

 year I made some collections in the vicinity of Wichita, among which were a species 

 of plum {Prunus chicasa, Mx.), sometimes called the sand-plum, and the brilliant 

 orange-flowered puccoon {Lilhospcrmum liirtum, Lehm). The latter was found in a 

 single locality on a sandy waste. Previous to this I had collected, on rocky points 

 in Cloud county, a few specimens of a plum in flower which I did not recognize, not 

 having yet seen the fruit. On returning to Cloud county and collecting the fruit, it 

 proved to be the same Prunus chicasa. Then I remembered having seen the same 

 species on various sand-hills along the Smoky Hill river in Saline county, and after- 

 ward I found it again in various places in Cloud county, but always in sandy wastes 

 or on rocky points. Later on, while collecting near Miltonvale, Cloud county, I found, 

 growing on a sand-hill, along with the previously mentioned plum, a number of fine 

 specimens of Lithosperinum hirtum. But, to my knowledge, this species does not 

 grow on any other spot in that county, and I have made a pretty clean survey of the 

 county. 



These discoveries induced me to make further observations, the results of which 

 are embodied briefly in this article. I simply present an account of each of the few 

 species that have so far come under my consideration, in the order of their abun- 

 dance and predominance as characteristic sand-hill species. Of course this is all, at 

 most, only preliminary to further investigations on the same subject. I simply give 



