SHORT STUDIES OF BATRACHIANS. 343 



More strictly terrestrial than the preceding is a third 

 common salamander, which I find exceedingly abundant 

 at times, and then a season passes when it is quite scarce. 

 This is the red-backed salamander. The surest place to 

 gather these is under the platform of the pump. !No 

 doubt now and then they plunge headlong down into 

 the well ; but, as they are not brought up mangled by the 

 valve or the bucket, why should we care ? I know they 

 are about the pump, and suppose they are in the water we 

 drink ; but this is not a disturbing fact. I remember that 

 the best springs always harbor frogs ; so why not this non- 

 jumping, tailed frog, for such it is. Under a board, if it 

 be lying on moist earth, the " red-backs " love to linger. 

 What they find to eat under there has often puzzled me, 

 as I never could see any other living creature of which 

 the salamanders could make a meal. There did not ap- 

 pear to be any trace of minute insects, and yet these 

 salamanders thrive the while. To solve this question, I tried 

 an experiment, but with only negative results. Finding 

 a small colony of the salamanders under a plank near the 

 pump, I waited until dark, and then, by the aid of a 

 bull's-eye lantern, found that when all was quiet they 

 came out from their diurnal quarters and foraged in a 

 very systematic manner. They scampered about as rest- 

 lessly as scuttle-bugs, and I suppose were hunting for in- 

 sects. When I caused the light from the lantern to fall 

 directly upon them, they at once started for the plank 

 from under which they had come. I did not, of course, 

 see one of them catch an insect, but it was evident that 

 they are nocturnal, and, being so, they must habitually 

 feed at night, although they do not scorn a bit of lunch- 

 eon, even if it happens to be offered during the day. 



With us the red-backed salamander lays its eggs first 

 in June and then again in August. They are placed 



