474 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vou. VIII. 
of these cracks the eggs are hung from the roof like a little bunch of grapes 
(Figures 2 and 3). Rarely a similar cavity within a decaying stump is 
selected. All the localities in which Plethodon has been found contain 
conifers and almost without exception it is in coniferous wood that the 
eggs have been found; though the adults may be found plentifully in 
wood of all kinds. Usually the eggs are placed from three to five inches 
beneath the surface of the log, at which depth its substance is con- 
stantly moist, and it can well be imagined that the air is saturated 
with water vapour. They are alwavs accompanied by the female 
and if in exposing them she has not been alarmed she will be 
found holding the dorsal surface of her head and neck against the under 
side of the bunch. ‘That it is the female that remains on guard was 
determined by the dissection of over twenty specimens. In only one 
case was a male found by eggs and then in company with a female; the 
eggs were several days advanced in development and the presence of the . 
male was perhaps merely an accident. Cope (’89) and Mongomery 
(o1) speak of finding the animals and their eggs under stones but if the 
above mentioned shelters are available they are always preferred. 
Wilder (’94) notes that the adults are seldom to be found under stones. 
Sherwood (’95) gives the habitat as beneath logs and stones, while the 
eggs are to be found in damp moss and beneath the bark of decaying 
stumps. 
Among Urodeles that do not lay their eggs in water contact between 
the body of the female and the eggs seems to occur in all cases; Amphiuma 
(Hay ’88) and Autodax (Ritter and Miller ’99, and Ritter ’03) coil round 
them, Desmognathus (Wilder ’99) inserts herself among the eggs wearing 
them like a necklace or belt. Plethodon oregonensis (van Denbrugh ’98) 
is described as holding the bunch in a loop of her tail and moving them 
from place to place. But as this was after removal from their natural 
surroundings it is quite possible that the eggs had been torn from their 
original support and that part of the mother’s uneasiness arose from their 
unattached condition. The Cecilians (Gadow ’or) also when not vivi- 
parous coil round their eggs. 
The number of eggs in a cluster varies from three to twelve. The 
number of ovarian eggs in advanced condition, in specimens taken just 
before the egg-laying season is also within these limits and the length of 
the incubation precludes a second brood in the one year. Consequently 
the preservation of the species must depend upon the larval stages being 
so perfectly adjusted to surrounding conditions that the mortality is 
very small, rather than—as is the case with most Urodeles—upon the 
production of large numbers of young. The slender and almost cylin- 
