RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



35 



but this does not warrant a misnomer. Noth- 

 ing in our vernal landscape is more attrac- 

 tive than a craggy- ridge, from the crevices of 

 which droop the red blossoms of columbine. 

 The foliage is delicate and clearly cut, and 

 each flower is posed as by an artist. The 

 plants do extreuiely well in cultivation, in- 

 creasing in size and number of blossoms. 



Among the loveliest of the spring flowers 

 is the Houstonia coeridea. It has many com- 

 mon names, as bluets, innocence, Quaker 

 ladies, and Star of Bethlehem. The last 

 title it shares with man}- other plants; it is 

 only necessary for a flower to have a resem- 

 blance to a star for somebody to apply an 

 old name to it. There is nothing like our 

 English dearth of nomenclature. In this 

 particular we have no fertility of resource. 

 P^very one, in Rhode Island, certainly, 

 knows the dainty bluets. They come about 

 the middle of April. First, we note a few 

 struggling blossoms on grassy slopes or in 

 sunny meadows, soon to be followed by hun- 

 dreds of others, till finally each field seems 

 to be drifted full of snow. White these lit- 

 tle flowers appear at a distance. A nearer 

 inspection shows them to be of a lavender blue 

 and with a 3'ellow e3'e. Man}', indeed, are 

 white, but enough are tinged to countenance 

 the name. They are Quaker ladies, we sup- 

 pose, from their lavender bonnets. The 

 plants are only a few inches in height, deli- 

 cate and graceful. Before opening the flow- 

 ers droop on their pedals. As the}' expand, 

 each salvaform corolla is upraised. We find 

 groups of the bluets at slight intervals apart, 

 each group having the peculiarity of a par- 

 ticular form of the flower. The next group 

 may be quite diff'erent. Indeed, the bluet, 

 like most O/f the madder family, to which it 

 belongs, is dimorphic. The stamens and 

 pistils are of differing length in the two forms, 

 and each form is the complement of the other. 

 Insects are the agents for the transmission 

 of the pollen. 



We have heard of portions of the country 

 where our Houstonia is not found. It must 

 be a tame and humdrum spring that omits 

 their cheerful faces. As well might one ban- 

 ish the robin, the bluebird and the tryza. 

 Always we would find ourselves longing for 

 the New England woods. Far more dis- 

 tinctive of our region is the Houstonia than 

 even the trailing arbutus. 

 March 29, 1886. W. W. Bailey. 



Reptiles and Batrachians of Rhode Island. 



BY HERMON C. BUMPUS. 



Number XIX. 



Plethodon cinereus erythronotns^ Cope, 

 (Ph'thodon erythronothus, Baird, Salaman- 

 dni eri/thronota. Green). The red-backed or 

 chestnut-backed salamander is abundantly 

 found in our damp forests, under decaying 

 logs and among the fallen leaves of moist 

 slopes. The body is much smaller than 

 that of the previous genus, and more slender. 

 The long cylindrical tail equals in length the 

 body from snout to the hind limbs ; the en- 

 tire animal sometimes measuring three and 

 one-half inches. Sixteen to nineteen folds can 

 be counted between the fore and hind limbs 

 which represent as many vertebrae. The 

 general color is dark reddish brown, more 

 or less mottled below, and with a character- 

 istic broad, median dorsal stripe of a chest- 

 nut color, which extends from the back of the 

 head to the tip of the tail. The inner toes 

 are rudimentary. When discovered in its 

 hiding-place this animal makes little effort 

 to escape, though it may break off its brittle 

 tail, a member which is soon again supplied. 

 Professor Cope considers it to be nocturnal in 

 its habits, though it is often to be seen on 

 cloudy days, slowly wandering over the 

 mossy carpeting of our less frequented 

 woods. He moreover gives to it the habit of 

 ascending slender vegetable growths, as ferns 

 and grasses, coiling itself often at quite an 

 elevation in such a way that on being dis- 

 turbed, by a sudden spring it leaves its 

 perch and soon is hid away under some 

 sheltering rock. It is also able to climb 

 the smooth surface of a pane of glass being 

 assisted in this by its moist abdomen. 



The eggs are often to be met with by one 

 knowing the place in which they are deposi- 

 ted. The cavities in decaying logs are 

 usually selected, and the eggs to the num- 

 ber of a dozen suspended in a grape-like 

 cluster. The geographical distribution of 

 this species is less general than that of the 

 previous form, being restricted to the more 

 eastern portions of our country. Several 

 varieties have been demonstrated. 



