120 PKOCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



os::§c;rvatio]vs on sireuon i^icheivoioes. 



By TVTtt. E. CAR1,I.\. 



• 



Como Lake is a body of water about two miles and a half in circum- 

 ference. It has no known outlet, but is fed by a stream of pure spriu<? 

 water about 2 feet wide and a foot deep, which, continually running, 

 prevents the lake's absorption by evaporation. The lake is quite shal- 

 low and can be easily waded at almost any part, being not more than 

 10 feet deep in the deepest place that I have been able to find. The 

 bottom of the lake is soft and is covered in most places with grass and 

 weeds. The water is strongly impregnated with alkali, and a large 

 number of cattle are said to have died a number of years ago from 

 drinking it. It is very disagreeable to the taste. The amount of water 

 varies about 14 inches during the year, being highest in the spring from 

 the melting snows, and lowest in the autumn. This is the home of the 

 Slredon lichenoides (Baird). They never enter the stream of fresh 

 water, pi-eferring the alkali water of the lake. They seem to suffer no 

 inconvenience, however, if placed in fresh water. I have caught as 

 many as a hundred and fifty and placed them in a cauf, and have never 

 had one die from the change. The change to fresh water undoubtedly 

 hastens the metamorphosis into the Amhlystoma form, as I have 

 noticed quite a change in the course of twenty-four hours in individuals 

 placed in the cauf, while an equal number kept in the alkali water in 

 the boat have shown no change in any of them in several days. I have 

 kept six at different times in jars of fresh water until they have 

 completed their metamorphosis. I made no systematic note of appear- 

 ance from day to day, but my observation was careful and regular. In 

 two cases the change in external appearance was so abrupt that I would 

 have been almost certain that another salamander had been substituted 

 for the one in the jar had I not had him so completely under observa- 

 tion that it was impossible. The gills had assumed a stubby form about 

 half the length that they were the night before, and the gill on the 

 back of the body was nearly half gone; it took air quite often, and I 

 removed it from the jar and placed it iu a box with some lake grass 

 around it to keep it moist. It completed the metamorphosis in a few 

 days. I did not feed it any during this time. While it was in the jar 

 it was well fed with flies. The jar was placed upon a table in the tele- 

 graph oflice. The flies at first had to be pushed in front of it with 

 a pencil. It finally got to know that tapping the jar with a pencil 

 meant a fly, and would rise to the surface immediately and snap at 

 whichever it saw first, pencil or fly. It furnished train-men continual 

 amusement while here, and they kept it constantly gorged. Those that 

 I kept well fed in jars and seldom changed the water, say once in three 

 days, usually began to show a slight change in from two to three weeks, 



