598 A NEW SALAMANDER FROM ARKANSAS— STEJNEGEB. voL.xvit. 



by about tbe same distance as from the parasplienoid patches; the 

 latter are quite continuous anteriorly, diverging backwardly, conse- 

 quently forming one apparently heart-shaped patch. 



Outline of lower mandible, seen from below, rounded, with no anterior 

 narrowed prolongation. 



Tail nearly cylindrical at base, taijering to a point and becoming com- 

 pressed posteriorly, with a keel, or low tin, along the upper medmnline. 



Color variable; above, grayish-clay color, becoming pinkish on the 

 tail, more or less overlaid with dusky spots or mottlings; sides darker, 

 usually with a series of light spots ; underside pale, mostly uniform, 

 sometimes mottled with very indistinct gray on the belly. 



Dimensions of largest specimen, — Total length, 128 mm.;^ snout to 

 vent, 72 mm.; vent to tip of tail, 56 mm.; fore limbs, 13 mm.; hind 

 limbs, 17 mm.; snout to fore limbs, 21 mm.; width of head, 12 mm. 



Yariation. — Among the specimens examined there is but little differ- 

 ence, except that in the larger ones the vomerine teeth are missing, a 

 rather common thing among the species of this geuus. 



The larger specimens are also duskier and less distinctly marked. 

 The young specimens have brighter colors and more definite markings; 

 thus there is a double series of dusky sjjots down the middle 'of the 

 back and another double series on the sides, more or less inclosing the 

 lateral series of light spots, which therefore appear ocellated; there 

 is also a light line from eye to angle of mouth. 



Comparison tcith other species. — Having referred this interesting nov- 

 elty — which I dedicate to Messrs. H. H. and C. S. Brimley, from whom 

 the Museum has obtained much interesting material — to the genus i)es- 

 mognathus, 1 need hardly remark that the vertebra' are opisthoca?lous 

 and that the premaxillaries are fused together. It will therefore only 

 need comparison with the three species of the genus hitherto recognized, 

 viz, J), ochrophwa, D.fusea, and I), nigra. From the former it is at 

 once distinguished by the shape of the tail, as well as by well-marked 

 differences in the mandibular dentition. From D. nigrait can easily be 

 told apart by the number of the costal grooves, not to mention size and 

 color. 



From all, including I>.fusca, it differs in the almost complete obliter- 

 ation of the gular fold, and from the latter, with which it has the general 

 proportions and external habitus in common, by the faintness of the 

 grooves of the sides of the face and neck, as well as by the absence of the 

 marked glandular swelling on the sides of the neck, so characteristic of 

 D. fnsca. The whole outline of the head, moreover, is different, it being- 

 more rounded and proportionally wider, resembling much more that of 

 Plethodon glutinosus than a Desmognathits. The maxillary and mandi- 

 bular alveolar margins are straight, not undulating, and the anterior 

 glandular prolongation of the lower lip is absent. Finally, the palatal 

 dentition is considerably difterent. 



In D. J'iisea the vomerine teeth when present are few, forming two 



