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the plantar tubercles indistiuct. Tail thick at the base, becoming com- 

 pressed toward the tip, not high, and without a keel; a well-marked 

 depression along each side ; usually shorter than remainder of the ani- 

 mal. Skin smooth, but well furnished with mucous pores. A row of 

 enlarged pores along the upper jaw, another inside the orbit, and another 

 on each side of the upper edge of the tail. 



The general color varies from slate-blue to deep black. There is an 

 irregular row of spots along each side of the back and tail. Similar 

 spots are found also on the head. From head to tail there may be from 

 10 to 20 of these spots. In alcoholic specimens these spots are white, 

 but in life they are bright yellow. Those on the head are often bright 

 orange, at least in spring. The spots are usually the size of the orbit. 

 Under side of animal paler than above. May attain a length of seven 

 or eight inches. 



It is distributed from Halifax, N. S., to Wisconsin and south to Geor- 

 gia and West Texas. 



Indiana localities : Wabash County (Ulrey) ; New Harmony (Samp- 

 son's coll.); Wheatland (Ridgway); Franklin County (Hughes); 

 Wayne County (Butler); Shelby County (G. .H. Clark); Monroe 

 County (Ind. Univ. coll.); Irvington ; Terre Haute (Evermann and 

 Blatchley). No doubt, exists throughout the State. 



This species differs from A. tigrinum in having but eleven costal 

 grooves, but a single series of yellow spots on the upper surface, in the 

 fading of these spots to white in alcohol and in having no plantar tuber- 

 cles, or but a single indistinct one. 



Like its kindred, this species resorts in early spring to stagnant ponds 

 for the purpose of depositing its spawn. They have been found about 

 Irvington about the middle of March, hiding under pieces of fallen 

 wood, which lie partly in the water. Later they disperse and may occa- 

 sionally be found under logs. Dr. 8. F. Clarke (122, 1880, No. 2) has 

 studied the development of this species. The' eggs are laid in masses of 

 from 300 to 400. Each egg is covered with a thin coat of jelly, which 

 swells up when brought in contact with the water. This is supposed to 

 protect the eggs from fishes, but it probably protects them from many 

 other enemies, animal and vegetable. This mass of jelly is much more 

 solid than that of any other species of Ambystoma that I am acquainted 

 with. While depositing her eggs, the female lies with her fore limbs 

 extended laterally and her hind limbs curved around the opening of the 

 cloaca, as if to assist in holding the eggs together. The male deposits 

 the sperm on the eggs and thus fertilizes them. The egg has a light and 

 a dark colored pole of equal size. Segmentation is most rapid in the 

 light-colored pole. In due time the balancers appear, and are again lost 

 on tlie thirtieth day. The larva has three pairs of gills, a tail with a 



