96 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



Charles, and Butler Counties, and in Illinois in St. Clair 

 and Monroe Counties. 



Habits. — ^The red form, B. miniatus, is so different from 

 the sexually mature, D. viridescens, that it was originally- 

 described as a distinct species, and even put by Eafinesque 

 in a different subgenus. Cope regarded them as * ^ seasonal 

 forms, which may be by reason of the environment ren- 

 dered permanent for a longer or shorter time.*' I se- 

 cured about twenty specimens of the ^^miniatus form*' in 

 the fall of the year on the side of a bluff from under rocks, 

 logs, leaves, and loose bark of trees. I put them into an 

 aquarium, where some of them took readily to the water, 

 while others tried constantly to climb out. These soon 

 died (about one-third). The remainder adapted them- 

 selves to the water, and by the next spring had changed to 

 the mature ^^viridescens form.'' They laid eggs, but, un- 

 fortunately, these were devoured by some small cat-fish 

 that were in the aquarium. Being away from home for 

 over a month and no one else looking after the aquarium, 

 1 found upon my return that my water lizards had changed 

 back to the land form, hiding under rocks and moss out- 

 side of the water. For a long time I was only acquainted 

 with the land form of the Red Eft, which I caught in 

 ravines on shady hill sides under rocks and rotten logs. 

 Accidentally I captured in a nearby lake in the spring a 

 number of mature specimens. 



Dates of capture. — Apr. 17 ; May 6 ; Oct. 3, 15 ; Nov. 1, 

 11. 



Order SALIENTIA. 



Body stout, short, more or less depressed. With two pairs of legs, 

 the anterior of which bear four, and the larger posterior pair five, 

 digits. Mandible toothless. Vertebral column composed of but few 

 vertebrae and terminating in a long solid coccyx — the urostyle. Sternal 

 arch complete. Radius and ulna fused. Tibia and fibula also fused. 

 The two proximal tarsal bones very long and often fused at their 

 extremities. 



The adults are tailless and are known as frogs and toads. They 

 move on land by leaps, the structure of the posterior legs being spe- 

 cially suited to this mode of locomotion. The young are known as 



