COPEIA 49 



and peepers (Hyla pickeringi) came entirely from 

 ponds in adjoining meadows. One of these ponds, 

 from which last season a number of Ambly stoma 

 larvae were obtained, again showed a profusion of 

 life. One corner teemed with woodfrogs, many of 

 them paired, while others had finished breeding to 

 judge from the egg masses attached to twigs and 

 branches just below the surface of the water. The 

 more secretive peepers were oftener heard than seen. 

 Cricket frogs (Acris gryllus crepitans) were also out, 

 but not yet in song. 



Though our hopes of finding adults of A. tigri- 

 num, either breeding in the water or hiding on the 

 land, were not realized, we did notice, at some distance 

 from shore and barely visible at the depth of a foot 

 or more below the wind-ruffled surface, several masses 

 of jelly attached to the stalks of dead plants. Secur- 

 ing one by means of a long-handled landing net, and 

 feeling sure that it represented an egg-mass of A. 

 tigrinum, Mr. Deckert waded in and obtained ten 

 more. He also observed many others in inaccessible 

 parts of the pond. 



The egg-masses are rounded oblong or kidney- 

 shaped. The largest measures 3x2 inches, the aver- 

 age being about two-thirds of that size. The number 

 of eggs is 30 in the smallest and 110 in the largest 

 mass. Unlike the egg-masses of woodfrogs, which 

 are composed of an aggregation of small, jelly spheres 

 each enveloping an egg, the egg-masses of A. trigi- 

 num represent one homogeneous mass of jelly, within 

 which the eggs are distributed irregularly. The eggs 

 measure 3 mm. in diameter, the animal pole being 

 dark brown and the vegetative pole light buff. They 

 are closely surrounded by a clear cell 4 mm. in diam- 

 eter. I can see no obvious difference between the eggs 

 of this salamander and those of A. panctatum, except 

 that the egg-masses of the latter species average larger 

 in size and usually contain considerably over 100 eggs. 



