COPEIA 51 



The remaining egg-masses are showing signs of 

 decomposition and have been thrown out. A lot of 

 ova of Ran a sylvatica, collected for the purpose of 

 feeding the Amblystoma larvae with young tadpoles, 

 also had to be discarded for the same reason. 



Accepting April 1st as the earliest date of ovula- 

 tion, the average hatching period would be 20 days— 

 7 under natural conditions out of doors and 13 in the 

 laboratory at an average air temperature of 6.5° F. 



May 9th. — Field observations. Another breed- 

 ing place has been located in the woods north of the 

 Syosset Railroad Station. Shallow pools, formed by 

 melting snow earlier in the season, contain many egg- 

 masses. An adjacent pond, stocked with fish, has 

 none. 



On the Hudson Estate a lower water level of the 

 pools revealed many more egg-masses than were seen 

 in April. The meadow pool alone (surface area 

 about half an acre) has close to 100. Quite a number 

 of the egg-masses are still in the arcuate embryo 

 state; others have hatched recently. Evidently ovu- 

 lation has been continued since the visit, April 7. 

 The young larvae are rarely seen swimming about, 

 but remain on the bottom, well concealed in their per- 

 fect color harmony with the vegetation. The hatch- 

 ing period, under natural conditions out of doors, 

 appears to vary between 30 and 40 days, subject to 

 weather conditions. 



The young larvae, hatched in aquarium April 

 18 to 22, now measure 18 mm. in length. Daphnia 

 and other small aquatic life so far have served as 

 food. 



George P. Engelhardt, 



Brooklyn, N. Y. 



