4(3 



Vermillion. The belly is somewhat paler. There may or may not be 

 small black specks on the upper surface ; while there are on each side of 

 the back about half a dozen crimson spots of the size of the pupil, each 

 surrounded by a black ring. Such young specimens are terrestrial in 

 their habits. The sexually mature individuals are generally of some 

 shade of olive, often having a reddish or yellowish tinge. The lower 

 surface is generally of a bright yellow. Both above and below are to be 

 seen numerous dots of black. In the breeding males some of these spots, 

 especially those on the tail, may enlarge and become more or less ocella- 

 ted. On each side of the back are the red spots surrounded by a black 

 ring. The red, immature specimens are generally quite rough above and 

 often below through the development, all over the skin, of small, pointed 

 papillre. 



The distribution of this species is from Maine to Hudson's Bay, Wiscon- 

 sin, Texas, and Georgia. Indiana localities are as follows: New Har- 

 mony (Samp.-on's Coll.), Brookville, where it is common (Hughes), Mt. 

 Carrael (L. M. Turner), Monroe County (Ind. Univ. Coll.), Terre 

 Haute (Evermann, Blatchley), Rochester, Fulton County (Dr. Vernon 

 Gould), Lake Maxinkuckee, Marshall County (Hay.) 



The habits of this beautiful and interesting creature have been studied 

 by many naturalists, among them Dr. Hallowell, Prof. S. F. Baird, Prof. 

 E. D. Cope, Dr. Howard Kelly, Sarah P. Monks, Col. Nicholas Pike, 

 and Prof. S. P. Gage. The red form is so different from the sexually 

 mature, " viridescent " form that it was originally described as a distinct 

 species under the name miniatus, and indeed was put by Rafinesque in a 

 different subgenus. Prof. Baird placed the forms in the same genus as 

 distinct species, but he recognized the close similarity existing between 

 the two. Prof. Cope as early as 1859 (1, '59, 122-128), expressed the 

 opinion that miniatus is only a state of viridescem ; yet in his check list of 

 1875 he gives the two forms as subspecies. Later (51, 207) he regards 

 them as "seasonal forms, which may be by reason of the environment 

 rendered permanent for a longer or shorter time." Dr. Howard Kelly 

 kept a number of the red miniatus in a dark box filled with wet moss and 

 saw them transform into the olive state characteristic of viridescem. 

 Sarah P. Monks observed the same change. Col. Nicholas Pike kept a 

 number of the red ones where they could enter the water. After some 

 time they did this, and after about three months they lost the bright red 

 color, and in less than a year had the olive hue of viridescens. He, in 

 common with many others, believed that the viridescens form might 

 change back into the miniattis form. 



Prof. S. P. Gage and wife of Cornell University have studied the 

 species most carefully. They have seen the eggs deposited, watched the 

 hatching of the larva, their transformation into the red, immature, miyii- 

 atus, aud the change of other specimens of these into the viridescens. 



