of a poisonous snake occurring in the vicinity of 

 the boundary of New York City that the writer 

 has ever received — excepting the numerous copper- 

 heads captured on the Palisades along the west 

 shore of the Hudson. The specimen described 

 was caught just ten miles from the city line. 



It is particularly interesting to note that the 

 reports of rattlesnakes occurring in southerly West- 

 chester County have also been confirmed by a large 

 yellow specimen being captured on a hill near 

 Sherman Park, this being seventeen miles from 

 the city line. The collector informed the writer 

 that there were several other snakes seen on this 

 same hill, which is of a ledgy character. 



RAYMOND L. DITMAES, 



New York, X. Y. 



AN UNUSUAL RED SALAMANDER 



A few days ago while chopping cord-wood 

 with my friend Dr. Bremer of the Harvard Medical 

 School, I was surprised to find, under the bark of 

 a hemlock log, a brilliant red salamander. I 

 thought first that I had the red eft form of the 

 common pond salamander ( Notophthalmus viri- 

 descens) , though the situation was not one where 

 this creature would be expected. Next I thought 

 of Spelerpes ruber, but I knew instinctively that 

 this also was improbable on account of the loca- 

 tion. An examination showed that it was an 

 aberrantly colored individual of Pletliodon erythro- 

 notus. This species, if examined closely in a living- 

 state, will often be seen to show scattered, minute 

 red dots in the black areas, showing that the red 

 pigment is not really confined to the mid-dorsal 

 region. It probably exists along with the black 

 pigment wherever this occurs, but only shows when 



