THE MUSEUM. 



39 



A little later in the day, accompan 

 ied by Mr. White's youngest son, 

 went on a salamander hunt up the 

 mountain side. We turned over all 

 the old logs and stones that we could 

 find and secured quite a number of 

 specimens of small salamanders of sev- 

 eral species. The red-backed (Pleth- 

 odon crythronotus) appeared to be the 

 most common and we found them of 

 all sizes from little fellows not much 

 over an inch in length to good sized 

 adults measuring three and a half in- 

 ches. They seemed to live under 

 both stones and old logs and in some 

 cases we found several near together 

 under the same covering The young 

 were found in nearly every case with 

 the adult specimens and as they were 

 very easily captured it is possible that 

 they are more quiet when with their 

 young. I quote the following notes in 

 regard to this species from the "Re- 

 port of the Geological Survey of 

 Ohio." 



"The Red-backed Salamander is 

 the first of this group seen in spring, 

 having been observed in the middle of 

 April. I found them near Vassar Col- 

 lege in New York state, on April 6, 

 1878. It occurs in moist woody plac- 

 es, hiding under stones and old logs, 

 and when these are upturned, it, if 

 alone, quickly disappears in the decay- 

 ing wood, moss, leaves or earth; but 

 if accompanied by its young, neither it 

 nor its little ones attempt to escape 

 until touched. It climbs glass by ad- 

 hering with its abdomen, is frequently 

 on herbs, and, if disturbed, springs 

 away by a sudden uncoiling. They 

 are very agile in their motions, walk 

 rapidly, run by sudden and irregular 

 jerks and have been kept alive an en- 

 tire year by allowing them dead leaves 

 constantly moistened. Their food ap- 

 pears to be small snails. When the 

 young are found, as a rule, they are 

 accompanied and often apparently be- 

 ing fed by their parents, but are oc- 

 casionally alone. Their little ones, as 

 well as their eggs, occur under the 

 moss and bark of decayed trees. The 



latter are found in bunches of from six 

 to eleven each, and individually are 

 about three-twentiths of an inch in 

 diameter and have been found in June 

 at Ann Arbor, Michigan; Fitchburg, 

 Massachusetts; and in August in the 

 White Mountains. 



"The young are supplied with 

 branchiae, but lose them early, that is, 

 three or four days after hatching. The 

 little ones usually have the same mark- 

 ings as the adult but are often bright 

 red, spotted with black. The young- 

 er larvae are nearly white, the older 

 olive with dark spots. As age ad- 

 vances the color deepens, becoming a 

 brown, and very old specimens often 

 have a purplish tint." 



This gives us a very good idea of 

 the life history of this little salamand- 

 er. I found the color of the dorsal 

 stripe to vary considerably in my spec- 

 imens. In some it was much more 

 yellow than red, and in many of the 

 younger individuals it was mixed with 

 a good deal of black. 



Before going any farther with the 

 account of my walk I should like to 

 give some account of the other species 

 of salamanders which I found at this 

 time, it being my intention to make 

 this paper, as far as possible, a col- 

 lection of notes on various animals ob- 

 served during my stay in Fauquier 

 Co., Virginia. 



Perhaps the most abundant species 

 next to the Red-backed was the Gray 

 Spotted or Viscid Salamander {Plcth ■ 

 odon glittinosus, Green.) 



This species is larger than the pre- 

 ceding, adult specimens measuring 

 nearly six inches. I found it in damp 

 situations under logs and stones. If I 

 remember rightly I found most of my 

 specimens near the top of the moun- 

 tains. Its general color is black, dot- 

 ted all over the back and sides with 

 spots of gray, these spots being larger 

 on the sides. There are fourteen cos- 

 tal furrows, a distinct cervical fold 

 and a longitudinal furrow along the 

 back. This furrow is much more dis- 

 tinct in some specimens than in oth- 



