128 URODELA CHAP. 



beautiful T. vittatus of Asia Minor. From China and Japan 

 are known T. pyrrliogaster and T. sinensis. 



The North American species are T. torosus and T. mridescens. 

 The former, of Western North America, is one of the largest 

 newts, reaching a length of more than six inches. The head is 

 much depressed and broad, and has very prominent parotoid 

 and other glands. The limbs are strong, especially in the 

 male. The skin of the upper parts is very granular, uniform 

 dark brown, without a crest. The tail, which is larger than 

 the head and body, is strongly compressed, with a low dorsal 

 and ventral fin. The under parts and the lower edge of 

 the tail are uniform yellow or orange red. The iris is green. 

 A specimen in my keeping spends most of its time in the cracks 

 of rotten stumps or on the top of moss in the darkest shade. 

 It lives on earthworms but despises insects. Like most of the 

 other newts it becomes lively at dusk. 



T. mridescens is common throughout the Northern and 

 Eastern parts of the United States. Large females are about 



11 cm. long,'the males 1 cm. less. The 

 general colour above is brown, with a 

 tinge of green ; on each side of the 

 trunk, with a row of bright vermilion 

 spots ; the under parts are orange, 

 studded with small black dots. Half- 

 grown specimens are brownish red, 

 with the same lateral red spots as the 

 adult. According to Jordan, 1 this 

 voracious species lives chiefly on the 

 larvae of insects, on. small molluscs 

 FIG. 24. Triton mridescens. 1, such as Cyclas and Planorbis, on earth- 

 8? "* worms and on small Crustacea. It is 



x 6 ; 2, a spermatophore just eminently aquatic in the adult stage. 



discharged showing its gelatin- m, i -j r A -TIT 



ous base with a projecting spike The e gg s are laid from A P nl to June > 



which bears a tuft of spermato- the period lasting for one individual 



zoa, x2. (After Jordan.) 



four to six weeks, or even longer. 



One female laid 108 eggs in all from 20th April to 30th 

 May. After having selected a suitable plant, for instance an 

 Anacharis or a bunch of Fontinalis leaflets, she bestrides the 

 plant and gathers in the surrounding shoots with her hind- 



1 Journ. Morphol. viii. 1893, p. 269. 



