No. 2.] THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEWT. 273 



October to May with only ordinary care and attention, not 

 one of them dying during this time, I have also been able 

 to obtain them directly from the ponds as late in the season 

 as the 1 6th December and as early as the 2 2d February. 



Spermatophores, etc. — I have described in an earlier paper 

 ('9l) the chief phenomena attending the deposition of sper- 

 matophores, and need here add little to that description. 

 Gage ('9l) has recently observed the deposition of spermato- 

 phores in the autumn, which occurs " exactly as described for 

 the spring," and the same interesting occurrence is also noticed 

 by Zeller ('9i). This curious anticipation of the normal breed- 

 ing season I had previously observed, and at first regarded as 

 due simply to the forced association of the two sexes in 

 captivity at a somewhat higher temperature than that to 

 which they are accustomed in their natural habitat, but I 

 have since seen reason to think that production of spermato- 

 phores may take place sporadically in the autumn under 

 natural conditions. I have on several occasions in the autumn 

 months seen pairs in the ponds engaged in the preliminary 

 ^^ Liebesspiel,'' but have at no time observed any approach to 

 such an outbreak of sexual susceptibility as occurs in early 

 spring. The observations of both Zeller and Gage were 

 made solely upon specimens in confinement where the in- 

 fluences I have indicated above must be potent. There is 

 no doubt, however, about the fact that spermatophores are 

 sometimes discharged in the fall, whereas, in the mid- 

 summer months, so far as my observations go, this discharge 

 does not occur, even in individuals in captivity. 



The seminal receptacles of females captured in the autumn 

 usually contain spermatozoa, although not in the same abun- 

 dance as in spring. One may account for the presence of the 

 spermatozoa by supposing either that they are the acquisition 

 of a recent mating, or that they have been kept over from the 

 preceding spring. It is possible that both explanations are 

 valid in individual cases. 



It is not very uncommon to see two males in the aquaria 

 pass through all the stages of the Liebesspiel, even to the 

 discharge of spermatophores, exactly as if they were of 



