628 Studies in the Theory of Descent. 



to me, but rather that all which has been reported 

 of this Amblystoma by Seiior Velasco goes to 

 show that the animal does not, properly speaking, 

 live upon land like the North American Ambly- 

 stomas, or like our land-salamanders, but that it 

 only experiences a summer sleep lasting over the 

 period of drought. These Amblystomas were 

 observed as they left the dried-up lake at night in 

 order to seek some moist lurking-place in the 

 neighbourhood, where they might remain con- 

 cealed. They are only known in the villages 

 situated near the lake, and were only seen there at 

 large just when they were wandering from the lake 

 to their place of concealment. At other times 

 they were mostly found in the earth, buried under 

 walls, the pavement of the market-place, &c. 

 When laying down a line of railway, a workman 

 found in the earth a whole nest of twelve Ambly- 

 stomas lying close together. All these are not 

 mere lurking-holes which could be abandoned at 

 any moment ; it would rather appear that we have 

 here places of refuge for the entire duration of the 

 period of drought, and that these would only be 

 forsaken when the water of the rainy season pene- 

 trated the soil. I am not myself in a favourable 

 position for investigating these suppositions more 

 closely, but this could be done by Sefior Velasco, 

 who lives in Mexico, and science would be much 

 indebted to him if he would examine as precisely 

 as possible into the habits and conditions of life of 



