40 



SALAMANDRID^. 



III. Series of palatine teeth between the choane ; plica? of tongue 

 radiating from a median longitudinal groove ; fourteen costal 

 grooves. 



Lower jaw shorter than snout 16. cingulatum, p. 50. 



Lower jaw longer than snout 17. microstomum, p. 50. 



1. Ambly stoma talpoideum. 



Amblystoma ? talpoideum, Gray, Cat. p. 3G. 

 Salamandra tal'poidea, Holbr. N. Amer. Herp. v. p. 73, pi. 24. 

 Amblystoma talpoideum, Dum. ty Bibr. p. 109; Cope, Proc. Ac. 

 Philad. 1867, p. 172 ; Strauch, Salam. p. 63. 



Shortest, stoutest, and most clumsily formed of all the Ambly- 

 stomata. Differs from A. opacum in the following characters : — 

 Head broader ; upper jaw visible beyond the lower, when viewed 

 from below ; eyes rather small. Tail higher. Ten costal grooves. 

 Dark brownish or liver-black ; upper surfaces irregularly sprinkled, 

 blotched and marbled with silvery grey of a lichen-like character. 

 Size of A. opacum. 



S.E. United States. 



2. Amblystoma opacum. 



Amblystoma opacum, Gray, Cat. p. 36. 

 Salamandra opaca, Gravenh. Uebers. Zool. Syst. p. 431, and Delic. 



p. 75, pi. 10 ; Dum. fy Bibr. p. (!A\. 

 fasciata, Green, Journ. Ac. Philad. i. 1818, p. 350 ; Holbr. N. 



Amer. Herp. v. p. 71, pi. xxiii. ; Dekay, N. Y. Faun., Rept. 



p. 77, pi. 17. f. 40. 

 Ambystoma opaca, Baird, Journ. Ac. Philad. (2) i. 1850, p. 283. 



fasciatum, Dum. fy Bibr. p. 106, pi. 101. f. 5. 



Amblystoma opacum, Cope, Proc. Ac. Philad. 1867, p. 173 ; Strauch, 



Salam. p. 63. 



Palatine teeth in three series on a line behind the choanse ; median 

 series in a double arc, the convexity of which is turned backwards ; 

 lateral series about half the length of the central, separated from 

 the latter by a decided interval. Tongue large, plicae radiating 

 from behind. Head depressed, a little longer than broad, greatest 

 width at angles of jaws ; snout broad, rounded, without canthus 

 rostralis ; eyes moderate. Body slightly depressed, measuring twice 

 and a half or twice and two thirds the distance from tip of snout 

 to gular fold. Limbs moderate ; adpressed against the body, the 

 longest fingers and toes meet; fingers and toes not very thick, de- 

 pressed ; carpal and tarsal tubercles generally indistinct. Tail 

 shorter than head and body, thick at the base, becoming gradually 

 compressed at the pointed tip, not keeled. Skin shining, closely 

 pitted, especially on back and tail ; parotoids indistinct ; a strong 

 gular fold ; a rectilinear fold from the angle of the mouth to the 

 latter ; eleven costal grooves. Purplish black ; back and upper 

 half of tail with bluish-grey transverse bars. 



