302 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 



around the egg as it is deposited. The egg is brown, about the 

 size of a toad's egg. 



Red-Backed Salamander, Plethodon erythronotus. Body slender, 

 about three inches long ; lead colored, with a broad reddish 

 dorsal band, which varies greatly in color or may be absent. 

 This is our most common salamander ; it is found under stones 

 and logs or beneath the bark of decaying stumps, and, unlike the 

 forms thus far noted, its eggs are laid in these places and not in 

 the water, and are watched over by the parent. Who can tell 

 us at what season the eggs are laid ? The food is insects and 

 their larvae. 



Red Triton, Spelerpes ruber. Length, five to six inches ; color, 

 vermilion to dark salmon red, spotted with brown. No account 

 is given of its eggs or breeding season-. This is the triton that 

 John Burroughs describes (Pepacton, Chapter V) as making 

 " more music in the woods in autumn than any bird." The 

 note is said to resemble that of Pickering's Hyla, only not so 

 loud. No other naturalist, so far as I can learn, has succeeded 

 in hearing it. Its haunts are springs and rocky streams, where 

 it may be found by turning over the stones. In rainy weather 

 it makes excursions on land. 



Spotted Salamander, Amblystoma punctatum. Length, six to seven 

 inches ; color, black above, with a series of yellow spots on each 

 side of back. Eggs of the spotted salamander will often be 

 brought in by the children. They are found in the icy pools 

 and ditches of early spring (March to April, according to season 

 and latitude), large, oblong, cylindrical masses of rather tough 

 jelly. They are transparent, and within the mass may be seen 

 the clear, spherical oval, about one-quarter of an inch in diameter, 

 each one containing a dark-brown yolk. This will prove a most 

 instructive object to watch for the next three or four weeks. 



PROTEANS, Mud Puppies, Proteida. Medium- to large-sized ani- 

 mals, shaped like salamanders but thoroughly aquatic and 

 provided with external gills. One American genus with two 

 species. 



