Literatur. ^^9 



published Observation , decribes the same act as observed by him in 

 S. maculosa on the 14"* May 1891. All observers agree that the pair- 

 ing takes places first on land and is continued in the water, but no 

 one has as jet succeeded in witnessing the seminal emission. We may 

 however inl'er, from the discover^^ by Zeller (29), in April 1889, of 

 spermatophores in the tank of the terrarium occupied by his Salamanders, 

 that the mode of impregnation does not diflPer materially from that of 

 the Newts. 



The next type with which we have to deal is the Pleurodele Newt 

 (Molge waltlii) and its North African allies i^lf. hagenmuelleri and 

 M. poireti). In these species the male clasps the female from below 

 by passing his fore limbs, which are very strongly developed and ar- 

 med with temporary asperities, over hers and, having tightly secured 

 his hold , with his head and nape closely applied to her throat and 

 breast, the pair will swim about in this position for hours or days. 

 This mode of pairing was first described by Bosca (4) and subsequentl}^ 

 b}' Lataste (IG), Bedkiaga (1) and Vaillant (27); but no one, so 

 far as is known, has yet observed the seminal emission, and we have 

 to fall back for Information on this point upon M, hagenmuelleri, which 

 pairs in exactly the same manner, and in which Bedriaga (2) was for- 

 tunate enough to witness the whole act of fecundation. In this case, as 

 in M. viridescens, the male let go the female and, raising himself on 

 his limbs, deposited a spermatophore upon a small stone at the bottom 

 of the aquarium ; the female followed, feeling the ground with the gaping 

 lips of her cloaca and, having reached the spot, the spermatophore en- 

 tirely disappeared into her cloaca. 



That things take place somewhat differently in the species which, 

 from the produced, more or less conical shape of the cloaca during the 

 breeding period, have received the name of Euproctus, seems probable, 

 but we are still much in want of precise Information, as regards two 

 of them at any rate. In these Newts, which live at a considerable al- 

 titude in the Pyrenees, in Corsica, and in Sardinia, the male seizes the 

 female with the bind limbs and by means of his prehensile tail which 

 he twists round hers. Bedriaga (2, 3) who witnessed the pairing 

 in the Pyrenean {M. aspera) and Corsican {M. montana) species, ob- 

 served the male to lubrify the female's cloaca by means of his toes 

 and to emit the spermatophore without separating from the female, but 

 also without any cloacal intromission, contrary to what the much pro- 

 duced penis - like shape of the cloaca had led some authors to ex- 

 pect (16). 



The result of all the above observations is to show that in no Sala- 

 mandroids, any more than in tailless Batrachians, does a real copulation 

 take place ; in no case are the spermatozoids discharged direct into the 

 female's cloaca. Thus confirming the opinion expressed by Gasco in 1881 

 that the embrace or rather the aggression on the part of the male has 

 no other object than to dispose the female to second his designs ; as 

 soon as he becomes aware of her assent he deposits his spermatophore 

 which it is her oflice to secure. 



