notable. Both forms occurred, the axolotl phase 

 dwelling in the water, and the salamander phase on 

 the land. 



After a rain, or in the morning while the ground 

 was still heavily bedewed, numbers of these salamand- 

 ers could be found crawling over the prairie, espe- 

 cially along the roads. I have seen as many as seven 

 in the course of a couple of miles, and their mangled 

 bodies were often seen where they had been run over, 

 sometimes as much as half a mile from the lakes. 



These salamanders delighted in burrowing in the 

 mounds of loose black earth cast up by the pocket 

 gophers on the prairie. They often covered them- 

 selves, leaving only the tip of the nose exposed. If 

 irritated, they would slowly lash their tails, which 

 would exude abundant drops of a thick white milky 

 fluid. The Indians believed this to be poisonous. 

 Great variation in the coloring of these salamanders 

 was observed, some being almost uniformly dull olive, 

 others plainly and strikingly barred with yellow. No 

 specimens under five or six inches in length were 

 observed, and most may have been eight or even nine 

 inches long. 



Alan son Skinner, 



New York, N. Y. 



Edited by J. T. Nichols, American Museum of Natural History 

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