68 Trans, Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



baited with worms. When kept in an aquarium they 

 always seek the darkest p]ace in it. After the receding 

 of the high water in Spring, they are most numerous. 

 In the year 1909, when a canal was being dredged to drain 

 the many lakes and sloughs in the so-called ^^ American 

 Bottom'^, opposite St. Louis, Sirens were more numer- 

 ous than ever before. I think they had been driven out 

 of their regular resorts by these operations. In the win- 

 ter of 1904-05, when the temperature went down to 15 

 degrees below zero, an acquaintance of mine reported that 

 he saw hundreds of them frozen in the ice. He did not 

 send me any as he thought I only wanted live specimens. 

 When the ice thawed, they were eaten by the crows. To 

 all appearances they are not very scarce and it is only 

 because of their habits — living mostly in the mud — that 

 they are not found oftener. 



Dates of capture. — I have specimens which were caught 

 Apr. 8, May 3, and June 13. Mr. B. H. Pluempe pre- 

 sented me with a living specimen which he caught in 

 Gingrass Creek, North St. Louis. 



Suborder MUTABILIA. 



The true salamanders are divided into two superfamilies, viz., the 

 Amphiuraoideae and the Salamandroideae. For our present purpose it 

 is enough to separate them by the presence of well-developed eyelids in 

 the latter and the absence of eyelids in the former. It is stated that the 

 absence of eyelids is concurrent with the absence of a first epibranchial 

 and with the connection of stapes with the quadrate arch in the 

 Amphiumoideae, while in the Salamandroideae a first epibranchial is 

 present and stapes not connected with the quadrate arch in the adult. 

 (Stejneger.) 



Both superfamilies occur within the State of Missouri. 

 Superfamily Amphiumoideae. 



Two families compose the superfamily Amphiumoideae, the Amphi- 

 umidae and the Cryptobranchidae, differing in many anatomical char- 

 acters, the former represented by the eel-like AmpMuma with at most 

 three digits on the rudimentary legs, the latter by the hell-bender, with 

 its more salamander-like body, 4-5 digits and well-developed limbs. The 

 former occurs only in North America. (Stejneger.) 



