

1 



THE llATRACIIFA OF NORTH AMERICA. 



203 



iiiliaviiigacomprt'ssed tiiil." UiMk'rtlu.sgoiiii.slieiiiclu(k'<l fivcsiiocit'.s: 

 T. Iiijpoxanthits, T fnnch , 7' rlndcNcciiN, T. ncbnlosici, am] T. minidtiis. 

 The T.fnsciiti is the Iksimxjn'itlmn fuscn of IJaiid ; the T. riritlcticcns aiul 

 T. miniatUH are iiiehuled under tlie present j^eniis, while the application 

 of the other two names is unknown. Under the head of the T. riri- 

 ihsi'cnx (p. 5), he reniarks: " it must form a peculiar subgenus Diemyc- 

 tjlus, distinguished by the forefeet semipalmate, with four ecpial toes, 

 the i)osterior with only tliree toes and two lateral knobs; Jaws nearly 

 ecpial, eyes elliptic," etc. Immediiitely following on the same page the 

 author proposes tiie subgeneric name Notophthalmus for the T. miniatiis, 

 in the following language: "It has almost tli(^ chariu-tors of tlic^ sub- 

 genus J)iemyctylus, but differs yet iVom it by having the toes of the 

 fore leet free and unecpial, the lateral ones much shorter, whence it may 

 form another subgenus Notoi»hthaImus." 



The lirst jtublication of the name Triturns makes it synonymous 

 with the Triton of Laurenti, and all subse(iuent uses of the name, even 

 l>y tiie same author, nnist yield to this one. Now Ijaurenti does not in- 

 cludi^ a single species of J)iemyctylu8 in his Triton, so that the name 

 is not applicable to the i)resent genus. It must be applied to a genus 

 of Salamandrida; whose sjjecies are i>laced by Uoulenger in the section 

 i' ' / of his genus Molge, which is without i»ostfronto scpiamosid arch. 



One year later than IJallnesqne, IMerrem (ISiMi) proposed the name 

 Molge for a series of species wnich euibraced, with tliose of Triturus, 

 one species of Dii'myctylus, iKpalnidtits {MoJ<ir pdlnxtld Sclnicid.). The 

 Trituri being abstracted by (he jtrior name, Molge should remain for 

 (lie last-named species. Hut it was in tiie same year that Kaliiiesipie 

 proposed Dii-myctylus for the same g<Mins, and it now liecomcs a »]ues- 

 tion as to the day of the year on which the works of these two authors 

 were respectively issued. As IJaiini'sipie's bears the early date of 

 March, I retain it un(il it is shown (hat Merrem's Tentaujcn was pub- 

 lished i)reviously. On this point 1 Inae not as yet obtained delinite 

 infoimation. 



The two North American species of this genus ditferas follows: 



llciid wider, lint, witlioiit keels; middle rm;iers :ind toes sliorler ; ('(dois nnifdi'in, nn- 

 s|ti)tted ; liiiyi^r I>, Ioi'h.^k.i. 



I lend narrow, more, eluviiteil, ami with two lon^itiidiiial keels; middle" (iiij;eis and 

 toes lon^rer ; spotted more or less tliiikly : smaller If. riridrficciin. 



r.otli of these sjtecies are aquatic iJi their habits, and they are the 

 only si)e(;ies found in North America which are truly so; that is, they 

 do not live on the bottom or under stones, but swim or suspend tliem- 

 selves in comparatively deep water. 





I 



