14(i 



paper has appeared in the American Naturalist for December, 1891, illus- 

 trated with a colored plate. 



During the past summer, before I knew of Prof. Gage's work on the newt, 

 I attempted to solve the question about the tAvo forms of the animal by a 

 study of the specimens in the National Museum, about two hundred and 

 fifty in number, and from all parts of the country. I reasoned that if there 

 were two varieties of the animal we ought in a large collection to find 

 them both in all stages of growth ; if the red form was only the young stage 

 of the animal then the green aquatic specimens ought to be all larger than 

 the red ones. One of the first things that I discovered was that there 

 was not a single character on which I could depend as a means of distin- 

 guishing the two forms. Neither redness, nor roughness, nor lack of tail- 

 fin, belonged to the land form alone. Of some it seemed to be impossible 

 to say with any certainty to which form they ought to be assigned. 



Nevertheless it was apparent that the red or miniatus form reached a max- 

 imum length of a little over three inches, while the undoubted viridescent 

 form ranged from a little less than three inches up to four or more. Yet 

 a breeding male of the viridescent form was found to be only two and 

 three-fourths inches long. On the whole, it seemed clear that at a cer- 

 tain stage the red, land form must enter the water and assume characters to 

 some extent different from those possessed while on land. 



As to the color of the aquatic form, olive is the prevailing tint. Yet 

 many have more or lees red mingled with it, and not a few are decidly red. 

 It is probable that none of those which have betaken themselves to the water 

 are as scarlet as those living on the land, yet they must come pretty near 

 it. As to the purpose of the coloration assumed in the water, it is not diffi- 

 cult to see that it will be highly protective to an animal that dwells amid 

 green vegetation ; but why the land-dwellers should be so conspicuously 

 red is not so easily decided. No concealment seems to be sought here. It 

 is possible that the land form is a distasteful morsel to such animals as it 

 comes in contact with, and the color is developed as a warning signal. 

 Those who have the opportunity to experiment with them ought to en- 

 deavor to settle the question. The salamanders are given to eating all such 

 animals, and the red young of the newt might be offered to Ambystoma tigri- 

 num, for instance, in order to determine whether or not the latter would eat 

 the young newt. 



There are some interesting matters connected wtth the size of the larva^ 

 at the time of the transformation. Prof. Gage states that he has never seen 



