88 BERTKAM G. SMITH 



that, the habit is well established; it is improbable that the question 

 can be settled by the study of this form alone, and the data here 

 given are presented only in the hope that they may contribute 

 something toward the final solution of the problem. 



Concerning the brooding habit of C. japonicus in its natural 

 habitat Ishikawa ('04) says: ''Fast in jedem Loch, wo man von 

 Ende August bis zu Anfang October ein weibliches Tier gefunden 

 hat, findet man einen Eiklumpen. Dieser Umstand lasst schon 

 vermuthen, dass das Tier eine Brutpflege hat wie Ichthyophis 

 oder wie so viele andere Amphibien." Kerbert, however, asserts 

 ('04) that it is the male that guards the eggs, and states that the 

 sex of his specimens was carefully determined. 



Other amphibia known to possess brooding habits are the uro- 

 deles Desmognathus and Plethodon; the caecilians Ichthyophis 

 and Hypogeophis; Alytes and several other anura (Wiedersheim 

 '00). In the cases of Desmognathus, Plethodon, Ichthyophis 

 and Hypogeophis the female is said to care for the eggs; in the 

 case of Alytes, the male. 



The brooding habit seems to be lacking in Necturus. According 

 to Eycleshymer ('06), Necturus sometimes eats the eggs of its 

 own species. 



The brooding habit is well known in many teleosts, and in 

 Amia (Dean, '96; Reighard, '03); it is well developed in the lung- 

 fishes Protopterus (Budgett, '01 a and '01 b), and Lepidosiren 

 (Kerr, '00). I can find no record of any observations pointing 

 to the existence of a brooding habit in the crossopterygii. 



D. SUMMARY 



The breeding season of Cryptobranchus allegheniensis in north- 

 western Pennsylvania begins about the first of September and lasts 

 about two weeks. 



There is a tendency toward segregation of the females from the 

 breeding grounds during a period extending from the close of 

 the breeding season until the middle of the following summer. 



About 450 eggs are matured each year by an adult female of 

 average size. The egg capsules from each oviduct are fastened 



