Reptiles and Anrphihians nf Illinois. 30)3 



rangular in section at its base, gradually tapering and com- 

 pressed toward the tip. 



Color above and below yellowish brown, or brownish yel- 

 low, or pale yellowish, with small spots or specks of black on 

 the back, often consisting of a more or less perfect vertebral 

 series and, generally, with the sides thickly marked with black, 

 which on the body forms a closely mottled area with scalloped 

 upper margin, and on the sides of the tail, vertical bars which 

 may be angulate posteriorly. Immaculate below. Legs spotted 

 with black above, uniformly pale or with a few spots below. 



Length of the body from tip of snout to the posterior 

 margin of the vent, 2; tail, from posterior margin of the vent 



to the tip, 3.31. 



Southern Illinois, abundant. Makanda, Cobden, Saratoga, 



Johnson Co. 



A consideral)le range of variation is presented by the 

 species. The plan of coloration is that descril)ed above, i. e., 

 plain belly, closely marked sides, and slightly speckled back; 

 but young examples and occasional well-grown ones may have 

 the back uniformly marked with rather large l^lack spots or 

 with numerous fine specks. In some young the spots are 

 not aggregated on the sides, l)ut these specimens generally 

 show a tendency to such aggregation in a broken row of elon- 

 gate spots on the superior part of the side and in an obsolete 

 mottling of the surface below it. The throat may be obso- 

 letely mottled with l)rownish. This little animal has been 

 called the cave salamander, and is said to frequent the waters 

 of deep caverns. It is one of the most abundant of its kind 

 in the extreme southern part of the State, where it is commonly 

 found under logs and stones, occasionally associated with Fleth- 

 odon glutinosas. I have never seen it in water, and have 

 taken but one example from a cave, though caves in vari- 

 ous parts of the region in which the species occurs have been 

 carefully searched. It is an active little fellow, reseml)ling 

 the lizards in the quickness of its movements when attempting 

 to escape capture. 



