250 REPTILES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



feet with four toes ; posterior five toed. Ocellated spots of a 

 similar color with those on the " symmetrical but smaller, are 

 arranged on each side of the spine ; these spots vary in number 

 on the two sides ; thus, of the eight living specimens before me, 

 of nearly the same size, but three have five of these spots on 

 each side ; the others have three and four and six and seven 

 on one side, with five on the other ; and one specimen has 

 nine on one side, eleven on the other, with a single line with 

 one similar spot beneath this line on the side, and still another 

 beneath, on the edge of the yellow abdomen. 



All the specimens I have seen were taken in brooks. In the 

 stomachs of several individuals, were found fragments of the 

 genera " Lymnea" and " Physa." I have kept these animals 

 for months, they seeming to thrive very well by a daily supply 

 of fresh water, and a sufficient quantity of flies which they 

 seize by a sudden spring, and swallow by several continued 

 efforts. This species casts its exuvia in June, and the new 

 cuticle is in all respects similar to the former. 



In the " Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences" 

 Harlan describes a salamander which he calls "dorsalis" some 

 of the specific characters of which, are " a whitish dorsal line 

 extending from the occiput over the tail j a row of whitish 

 colored oblong spots on each side of the dorsal line ; beneath, 

 freckled with black dots." 



Not meeting with any description which agreed with the 

 species I have just described, two years since I read an account 

 of it before the Boston Society of Natural History, under the 

 name of " S. millepunctata" My friend, Dr. Holbrook, while 

 examining, with me, the last season, the reptiles belonging to 

 the above mentioned Society, assured me he had seen the 

 specimen in Philadelphia originally described by Harlan, and 

 that it was the same species that I had supposed new. How 

 Harlan could have made such a description as he has from this 

 species, it is difficult to imagine. He must have described a 

 specimen preserved in spirits, else he could not have seen 

 " a row of whitish colored oblong spots on each side of the 

 dorsal line ;" but even alcohol could not produce " a whitish 



