104 URODELA 



II. The tongue is attached along the middle line and cannot be pro- 

 truded out of the mouth. 



Jaws with numerous small teeth. 



With 5 toes : Plethodon, p. 106. 

 With 4 toes : Batrachoseps. 



Maxillary and mandibular teeth few in number but very large 

 With 5 toes: Autodax, p. 107. 



Spelerpes. Except in a few species the limbs are well de- 

 veloped and possess 4 fingers and 5 toes, which are either free or 

 webbed. But in the Colombian S. parvipes, still more in S. 

 lineolus of Orizaba and S. uniformis of Costa Kica the limbs and 

 digits are reduced to mere vestiges, and are practically without 

 function, the body, with the extremely long tail, having assumed 

 a wormlike shape. The young of many, if not all, species have 

 a pair of short balancers below each nostril ; in the adult 

 these organs are reduced to little swellings or lost completely. 

 Several species are lungless, see p. 46. 



The geographical distribution of this genus, of which some 

 twenty species are known, is very remarkable. The majority live 

 in Mexico and in the United States, a few are found in Colombia 

 and Northern Peru (S. altamazonicus and Plethodon platense 

 being the only Urodeles hitherto recorded from south of the 

 equator), one in Hayti (S. infuscatus), two (S. subpalmatus and 

 S. uniformis) in Costa Eica, and S. fuscus in Europe. 



S. bilineatus is a little newt under 4 inches in length 60-95 

 mm. found in the Atlantic States. It is brownish-yellow above, 

 with a black lateral line extending from the eye to nearly the 

 end of the tail. The under parts are bright yellow. It lives on 

 land, in damp places, concealed during the daytime under stones 

 or old trees, whence it emerges after a rain or in the dusk of 

 evening. 



According to H. H. Wilder, 1 " the eggs are deposited in May and 

 June in a single layer upon the lower side of submerged stones, 

 each batch containing 30 to 50 eggs. The stones which are 

 suitable for this purpose must be in the form of an arch, allowing 

 the water to flow beneath. They are generally in the more rapidly 

 flowing portions of the brook, but the depth of water must be 

 such that the eggs are at all times entirely submerged. They are 

 attached to the stone by gelatinous threads, proceeding from the 

 outer envelope, and although they are generally contiguous, they 



1 Amer. Natural. March, 1899, p. 235. 



