340 RAMBLES ABOUT HOME. 



this neighborhood, although I am not certain of the iden- 

 tity of more than four. Externally they vary in color 

 and in the length of the tail, and, if we could only classify 

 them accordingly, the difficulty would end ; but my friend, 

 Professor Cope, has assured us that some are opisthocoe- 

 lian, and others amphicrelian. Think of that, and fail to 

 pity the poor salamanders, if you can. Then some have 

 ossified tarsi and carpi, while in others these are cartilagi- 

 nous. It is bewildering to contemplate, but in spite of it 

 all the salamanders keep up their courage, and wriggle 

 and twist, swim and dive, catch flies and sing songs, just as 

 though these terrible things had never been said about 

 them. 



In my rambles about home I have found four well- 

 marked species of these salamanders in abundance. One 

 is quite terrestrial, being content with moderately damp 

 ground. Two others may be considered as " on the 

 fence," it being uncertain whether wet land or running 

 water suits them better, while the fourth is strictly 

 aquatic. 



The first of these, and that which is strictly an aquatic 

 salamander, is the pretty spotted triton. This little creat- 

 ure is as much at home in the ponds and deeper ditches 

 as any fish, and is far handsomer. It is green above and 

 yellow beneath, and its sides are decorated with vermilion 

 spots, each one of which is margined by a black ring. 

 Not even the sunfish can boast a greater wealth of color. 



In its habits it is both frog- and fish-like. Early in 

 the spring it comes from its winter-quarters, which I could 

 never discover, and swimming in and out among the 

 bunches of floating dead grass, or haunting such hardier 

 growths as have not been winter-killed, it occasionally 

 lifts the tip of its nose just above the surface of the 



