178 Mr. G. A. Boulenger on 
sunset, during the spring and summer. Salamanders and 
Alytes never pair in the daytime. 
I should have thought that de l’Isle’s publication had 
disposed once for all of the old story, which originated with 
Demours, that the male pulls out the strings of eggs from 
the female and thus performs obstetric functions. As 
de l’Isle has told us, the ova are expelled suddenly, in a 
second or two, forming a ball-like mass, between the extended 
hind limbs of the couple, and the male does not attempt to 
disentangle the strings until after about ten minutes’ res’. 
Yet here are Kammerer’s own words, taken from his first 
paper (1, p. 53) :— 
“Das Mannchen umarmt sein Weibchen um die Lenden 
und presst ihm die Laichmasse, die aus auffallend grossen 
Hiern besteht, heraus, wobei es mit den Hinterbeinen nachi- 
_ hilft, indem sie die Laichmasse eintauchen und diese durch 
abwechselnde Anziehen und Ausstrecken aus der weiblichen 
Cloake hervorziehen.” 
It the reader will refer to the accounts of the parturition 
given by de l’Isle and myself, he will see that there are two 
quite distinct phases in this operation—the first, ending with 
the extrusion of the eggs, up to which moment the male 
clasps the female at the waist (“ Lenden’’), the second, during 
which the female is clung to at the neck whilst the male 
proceeds with the fertilization and the movements of the hind 
limbs by means of which the strings of eggs become entwined 
round them. The ‘“ Anziehen und Ausstrecken’”’ cannot 
coincide with the lumbar amplexation; this would be, as 
de l’Isle has observed, a material impossibility, for the eggs 
would be under the male instead of behind it, and could not 
be managed in the lading operations. 
My conclusion is that Kammerer can only have had 
glimpses at the act of parturition, either before the publication 
of his first paper or after, as his latest version (4, p. 97) is as 
follows :— 
“ Sie legt nur 18-83 verhiltnissmiissig sehr grasse, weil 
dotterreiche Hier, deren Gallerthiille sich zu einer Schnur 
verbindet, auf dem Lande ab, wo die Gallerthiille nicht 
quellen kann. Das viterliche Tier leistet seinem Weibchen 
Geburtshilfe, indem es ihm die Hierschnur aus der Kloake 
zieht.” 
A little further (4, p. 97) Kammerer goes on to say, 
referring to oviposition in water :— 
“In dem Augenblicke aber, als die Gallerthiille jetzt mit 
Wasser in Beriihrung trift, quellt sie auf, verliert dadurch ihre 
