as REPORT ‘OF NEW: JERSEY STATE MUSEUM 
Hellbender. 
This is the largest of our salamanders, reaching a couple of 
feet in length. It may be known by the fold of skin extending 
along the side of the body and its blackish color. Though very 
unprepossessing, it is harmless. 
This is only known to me from within the limits of the state 
by the record of Dr. C. C. Abbott. It may have escaped from 
aquaria, as about 1860 quite an interest was taken in aquatic 
life in Philadelphia. Many animals were brought from distant 
localities, and in some instances were freed in the Delaware valley. 
Its admittance to our fauna is, therefore, questionable. The 
specific name as spelled above is exactly like that employed by 
Daudin. 
Menopoma alleghaniensis Abbott, Nat. Rambles, 1885, p. 477. 
Family AMBYSTOMATIDE. 
The Blunt Nosed Salamanders. 
Tongue thick. No ethmoid. Palatine bones not prolonged 
over parasphenoids, bearing teeth on their posterior margins. 
Orbitosphenoid separated from prootic by membranous walls. 
Internal wall of vestibule osseus. Vertebrze amphiccelous, Pre- 
frontals and pterygoids present. Premaxillaries fully developed. 
Parasphenoid without dentigerous plates. An otoglossal carti- 
lage, only 1 first epibranchial, and second basibranchial isolated. 
Carpus and tarsus ossified. Toes 4-5, not webbed. 
Mostly with species of large size from North America, and 
possibly one from Siam. ‘They are of particular interest among 
the Urodela as furnishing connecting forms between the ordinary 
types of the order and those larger species supposed to be more 
characteristic of former periods of the earth’s history. The single 
genus Ambystoma, represented by several species, within our 
limits. 
Genus AmBystoMa Tschudi. 
The Blunt Nosed Salamanders. 
Key to the species. 
a. Costal grooves usually iit, 
b. Body with gray cross-shades. OPACUM 
bb. Body spotted, mostly with yellowish. 
