288 ALBERT HAZEN WRIGHT. 



All three females were laying at one time, and two of the 

 three were simultaneously depositing upon two closely apposed 

 stems of smartweed, the vent of the lower one being about an 

 inch below that of the other. One female held on with both 

 hind- and fore-limbs. Her head was appressed to the side of 

 the stem. The second female was facing the first, her vent being 

 slightly lower. She grasped the stem only by her hind limbs, 

 was semi-erect and inclined diagonally to the side. The stems 

 were so small and close together, that had the second desired it 

 she could not have clasped the stem with her fore-limbs with- 

 out embracing the first female. In both the tail extended diago- 

 nally downward, no prehensile tendencies being noted in any of 

 the three. 



The first female after about a minute disengaged herself and 

 swam off. The second after a short time, did the same but was 

 captured. Both bunches of eggs were at this moment no more 

 than one half of an inch in diameter. In less than an hour they 

 were two inches in diameter. The third female, only a foot away 

 had not been disturbed by the sweeping of the net. She held 

 on by her hind limbs only, leaving most of her body free. The 

 bunch of eggs was only an inch from the top of the stem. This 

 female was not perfectly erect but slightly arched. 



When the second female was killed she emitted many eggs. 

 Evidently, the first bunch, normal in number, was not all she 

 had to lay. Nor is it unusual to record Ambly stoma eggs laid in 

 small bunches. In one of our temporary woodland pools, March 

 30, 1907, I found a stem of common nightshade {Solarium Dul- 

 camara) which had within a length of one and a half feet 14 

 bunches of eggs, 15—20 eggs to a bunch. It is very doubtful if 

 each bunch represents a different female, when it is well known 

 that a female may have 1 50 or more eggs to deposit. It is more 

 natural to conclude that these bunches represent the egg com- 

 plement of one. The oviposition might have been interrupted, 

 the female might have crept along the stem or after a period of 

 emission she might have risen to the surface for air and then 

 returned to the stem again as the swamp cricket frog (Chorophihis 

 triseriatus) regularly does. 



In captivity females when depositing may have quite long 



