470 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vor. VIII. 
this region there is less variation in colour than in the one where his studies. 
Were made. 
Plethodon cinereus may be found in almost any wood in which 
the underbrush has not been entirely cleared away. ‘They seek shelter 
under logs, fallen branches, flakes of bark separating from old stumps, 
or even masses of decaying leaves; the cracks of rotting logs and 
stumps are also favorite places. In the latter situation the variety ery- 
thronotus receives some protection from the red in its coloration, the shade 
of red is often that of the decaying wood and the dark edging is a fair 
reproduction of the dark and narrow cracks that run through the log. 
Occasional specimens may be found in the latter part of April; during 
the next three weeks they become abundant and by the middle of May 
can be found as plentifully as at any time in the year. Just where they 
pass the winter has not been determined though search has been made 
both early in the spring and late in the autumn; digging quite through 
stumps and logs embedded in the soil will not expose them, though it will 
probably result in finding the wood-frog, Rana sylvatica. A few trifling 
things have suggested that the animals follow down the cracks in the 
roots of old stumps to a considerable depth, but this has not been 
verified. Farther south Montgomery (’or) finds them in the same situa- 
tions both winter and summer. 
Plethodon is strictly nocturnal, so far at least as regards life above 
ground; however, a specimen that is suddenly uncovered is by no means 
dazzled by daylight; it may remain motionless for a minute or two or may 
at once crawl beneath the nearest shelter. Nor does it stop when under 
cover but keeping out of sight crawls rapidly to a considerable distance, 
so that if not captured as soon as exposed it runs a very good chance of 
escaping entirely. This sensitiveness to light has rendered disappointing the 
results from keeping specimens in a terrarium, an amount of light sufficient 
to reveal them at all either arrests all movement or sends them under 
shelter. 
An examination of the stomach contents shows the food to consist 
of a variety of small insects; in one case the remains of a small spider 
were found. 
In handling living specimens it will frequently happen that the 
end of the tail will apply itself closely to a finger in a semi-circular loop, 
and hold thus for a few seconds. This power may perhaps be regarded 
as the first step in the development of a prehensile tail such as is de- 
scribed for Autodax (Ritter & Miller, ’99). 
