74 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



Description. — This species, as now recognized, is one of the most 

 widely distributed of North American Caudata, being known from 

 Maine to Florida, v/est to California, and southwest to Mexico. In 

 this wide extent of territory the species has been subjected to a great 

 variety of conditions, and the result has been the production of 

 numerous forms, which differ so much that they have been described 

 as distinct species under many names. The discovery of intermediate 

 specimens has resulted in bringing all the forms under the earliest 

 name, tigrinum. (Hay.) 



The arrangement of the palatine teeth is extremely variable, the 

 series being continuous or slightly interrupted externally or medially, 

 or in a straight line, or at an angle directed forward, or an arch with 

 the convexity forward, with all possible intermediate forms, extending 

 externally to the posterior outer border of the choanae. Tongue large, 

 plicae radiating from behind. Head depressed, as long as broad, great- 

 est width at angle of jaws; snout broad, rounded, without canthus 

 rostralis. Eyes moderate. Body stout, swollen, slightly depressed. 

 Distance from gular fold to posterior end of vent from three to three 

 and a half times the distance from the tip of the snout to the gular 

 fold. Limbs stout, appressed against the body; the median fingers 

 and toes meet or cross. Fingers and toes short, much depressed, 

 pointed. Carpal and tarsal tubercles distinct. Tail longer than, as 

 long as, or shorter than head and body, strongly compressed, keeled 

 posteriorly, ending in a point. 



Skin shining, minutely granulated. The parotoid region much swol- 

 len, wider than the skull, and about equal to the distance from snout 

 to gular fold. A vertical groove behind the angle of the mouth, crossed 

 by another horizontal groove from the eye to the gular fold, which is 

 very strong and even overlapping. There is a decided constriction 

 at the neck. Twelve costal grooves well marked. 



Color. — The colors vary in individuals and with age. The yellow 

 spots may be distinct and bright yellow or so obscure as to be scarcely 

 discernible; they may be abundant and pretty regularly distributed, 

 or may be few in number and confined chiefly to the sides of the belly. 

 Young just from the water are nearly uniformly brownish black above, 

 with no spots or a very few small ones, and are yellowish beneath, 

 with perhaps a few indistinct spots on the sides. (Carman.) 



Adult specimens are of a dark, livid black-brown color on the back, 

 olivaceous on the sides, and from light olive to dirty white or yellowish 

 beneath, with the yellow spots distributed as given above. All my 

 specimens from Missouri have no vertical yellow bands on the tail 

 as seen in some specimens in my collection from the Cherokee outlet 

 in Oklahoma. 



Size. — The largest adult specimen measures from the end of the 

 snout to the posterior end of the anal slit 130 mm.; from there to 

 the end of the tail 135 mm.; total length 265 mm. An adult, but very 

 small specimen, from Montgomery Co., Mo., has a total length of 97 



