306 ZOOLOGY. 



active animal, and has a greater expansion of the thin membrane of its tail than during its 

 terrestrial life. 



The spawn mentioned as deposited hy this species in the water may have belonged to some 

 other animal, as most salamanders are believed to deposit it on land, under stones, &c. ; but I 

 never found any in such situations. 



Note. — Both Mr. Gibbs and myself found near Steilacoom a small kind of salamander under 

 logs and stones, which seems to be undescribed. The specimens were, in some wniy, lost or 

 destroyed. When alive, they were pale purplish, with yellow longitudinal stripes. — C. 



Among the lost collections from the Dalles was a small salamander, found in January, 1855, 

 which had the sides deep blue, with light markings ; belly spotted with black. No such 

 species is known to naturalists. — S. 



SIREDON LICHENOIDES,? Baird. 



** Ground Puppy;" ♦• Four-legged Pish." 



Siieilon lidimokles,'' Baird, Stansb. Salt Like Exp. 1852, p. 336, pi. 1. 



A specimen of siredon collected by Dr. Suckley, near Fort Union, Nebraska, differs from the 

 typical 8. lichenoides, in fuller form, and in the presence of distinct rounded black spots on a 

 grayish brown ground, the spots larger and more distinct than in S. mexicanus ; the eyes are 

 more anterior. In the absence of tangible, distinctive characters, it is difficidt to say if this 

 animal be really distinct from lichenoides; but it may, at any rate, be considered as a well 

 marked variety, S. melanosticta. The total length of the specimen, No. 4073, is about nine 

 inches. — Baird. 



This siredon was obtained on the route between Fort Union and Fort Benton, Nebraska. 

 Vast numbers of a species apparently identical are found in the small brackish lakes of central 

 Minnesota, where I procured some thirty or forty specimens, which were, unfortunately, 

 afterwards lost on their way to Washington city. The species is, apparently, permanently 

 aquatic; the only occasion upon which I noticed them out of their native ponds was wdien, 

 during a terrific thunder shower, I found many in the wet grass within a few feet of a small 

 prairie lake, to which they had retreated from the water, apparently from fright produced by 

 the loud claps of thunder. I generally obtained them by dragging a seine through the small, 

 shallow, mudd}' ponds, so numerous in that region. The contents of my net were generally 

 confined to those animals, and vast numbers of aquatic insects. — S. 



