878 Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History. 



he has only taken it there in timber. In the Eastern States it 

 replaces A. tigrinum. It is commonly found under logs and 

 stones. In an article on the development of this animal Prof. 

 S. F. Clarke states that the eggs are deposited in masses of 

 from two to three hundred and are covered, as are those of A. 

 Y/j r\ I tigrinum, by a gelatinous coat. The species is said to use its 



V / \j, ^€fc^ tail for prehensioni (S. Garman, Science, VIIL, 13.)^ 



'A. 

 Amblystoma opacum, Gravenhorst. 



8alam(iiidra opava, Gravenhorst, Ueber. Zool. Syst., 1807, p. 431. 



Salamandra fasciata, De Kay, Nat. Hist. N. Y., I., Zool. III., 

 Kept, and Amph., 1842, p. 77, pi. 17, tig. 40. 



Amhlystoma opaca, Baird, Jour. Acad. Nat. fSci. Phila., 21 Ser., 

 1849, p. 283. 



Salamandra opaca, Dum. et Bibr., Erp. Gen., 1854, IX., p. 66. 



Amblystoma. opacum, Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1867, p. 

 173.— Smith, Tailed Amphibians, 1877, p. 37.— Boulenger, 

 Cat. Batr. Sal. in Coll. Brit. Mus , 2d ed., 1882. Sal. Caudata, 

 p. 40.— Davis and Rice, Bull. III. State Lab. Nat. Hist., I., 

 No. 5, 1883, p. 9; Bull. Chicago Acad. Sci., 1883. 



Total length about three and a half inches. With eleven 

 costal folds. Two distinct plantar tubercles [sic]. Body stout 

 and short, fusiform. Head large, depressed, widened posteri- 

 orly. Mouth large, jaws about equal. Tongue large, obovate, 

 completely occupying the space between the mandibular rami; 

 plicae radiating from the posterior part of the tongue. Vomer- 

 ine teeth extending outside the inner nares; consisting of three 

 series, — a median large one straight or arched forwards, and a 

 short series behind each of the internal nares. A distinct 

 postocular groove, curving downwards behind the angle of the 

 mouth. Cervical fold distinct. No large mucous pores on the 

 head. Limbs moderately strong. Tail short, thick at the 

 base and subcylindrical, compressed distally and tapering to 

 a point. 



Color above fuscous, with wide grayish-white transverse 

 bands which widen laterally and terminate abruptly on the 

 upper part of the sides. Head often extensively gray between 

 the eyes, with a band of the color passing from this over the 

 eyes and sometimes uniting with the extremities of first white 



