RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL. HISTORY. 



21 



Reptiles and Batrachians of Rhode Island. 



BY HERMON C. BUMPUS. 



Number XVIII. 



2. Order Ukodela. We now come to 

 the tailed Batrachians, the so-called sala- 

 raanders, newts, efts, and tritons. These 

 animals differ from the frogs in possessing, 

 through life, a well-developed tail, which 

 often exceeds the body in length. It will 

 be remembered that the frogs had a tail at 

 a certain period of their lives, though this 

 became resorbed as the animal changed 

 from joung to adult. The salamander, then, 

 represents the more imperfectly developed 

 frog, and is hence regarded by evolutionists 

 as holding an inferior position. To this 

 branch but little attention hasbeen given by 

 the naturalists of the state, and there is con- 

 sequently but little material collected on 

 which to work out the native forms. The 

 writer trusts, however, that a brief descrip- 

 tion of the more common representatives, 

 will result in interesting those who have op- 

 portunities for working out more definitely 

 what we ought to know about all. 



1. Die'tn.yctylus miniatus Bajinesqae. The 

 common Salamander or Newt is one of 

 those forms which presents so great a 

 variety of form and color, that naturalists 

 have often mistaken specimens of odd ap- 

 pearance for representatives of new species, 

 resulting in a most confused state as re- 

 gards the animal's real name. Salamandra 

 stelUo and S. symmetrica have given place 

 to the name adopted above ; while a form 

 long considered to be a different species, 

 Diemyctylus viridescens, has latel}' been 

 shown to be only an extreme variety. 



The common Salamander is abundantly 

 found in all parts of the state, and is 

 the most common representative of the 

 order. In length it is about three inches, 

 and is generally dull olive-red above, 

 and yellowish red below ; the whole bod}' 

 being more or less covered with small 

 black dots. Along each side is a row of 

 red spots which are very characteristic. 

 The tail is provided with a fin of considera- 

 ble size, the upper part of which is devel- 

 oped in the males at certain periods of the 

 3'ear into a high crest. The bright colors, 

 attractive habits, and the ease with which 

 it can be domesticated, render this form one 

 of the most popular pets, and is often to be 



seen in the aquarium of the amateur natur- 

 alist. 



The time for this animal's appearance 

 is now almost here, though it can be 

 secured at almost any time of the year- 

 That it can well endure the cold is appar- 

 ent, for specimens are often captured late 

 into December, and the writer has several 

 times observed them, as they crawled 

 about on the decaying sedges of some 

 muddy pond, long after ice had covered 

 them over. When thus moving about they 

 were evident^ in search of food, possibly 

 for some small fresh water moUusks or lar- 

 val beetles. In the warmer weather, they 

 are often to be seen in numbers, under cul- 

 verts and in slow running streams, and not 

 infrequentl}' some adventuresome one 

 crawls away from the water to forage on 

 the abundant insect life, which is to be 

 found among the bits of deca3'ing twigs and 

 leaves of our damp forests. When thus 

 surprised it seldom makes any effort to es- 

 cape, and on being handled onlj' continues to 

 gulp down air, as though in that lay its only 

 hope of salvation. Early in the spring the 

 males, adorned with far gaj^er colors than 

 usual, and with a most remarkable expansion 

 of the tail, begin their courtship. The egg» 

 of the female are much like those of the 

 frogs, being deposited in clusters, attached 

 to twigs or to grass. Each egg is surrounded 

 by a mass of glairy substance, which 

 expands in coming in contact with the 

 water, and both serves to protect the eggs 

 from external injury, and is devoured by 

 the young as food. 



After the mating season is over with, we 

 are told by Col. Nicholas Pike, that 

 "• both sexes leave the water and hide, 

 without feeding, under stones and tussocks. 

 The young of the second year sometimes 

 leave the water for months together and 

 secrete themselves in damp places. When 

 droughts occur and the ponds dry up I 

 have often dug them out, all huddled to- 

 gether, more than a foot below the sur- 

 face, and where the clayey ground has been 

 so parched that they are unable to burrow 

 the}' are often seen several together, dead 

 or dried up." 



Mr. a. H. Jamrach, prominent in Lon- 

 don, Eng., as a dealer in specimens of nat- 

 ural history, died Nov. 14. 1885, aged forty- 

 four vears. 



