VARIATIONS OF THE SPOTTED SALAMANDER. 345 



dryer and poorer in water-coiu'ses than those formed of the other 

 mentioned rocks. 



[I am not sufficiently acquainted with the formations on which 

 the specimens in the museum were obtained to fully discuss this 

 proposition, but I wish to observe, on the testimony of my father, 

 who has examined large numbers of specimens from Belgium, 

 found on Carboniferous and Devonian limestone, and from 

 Brittany, on granite, that Salamanders from these places agree 

 absolutely in the extent of the spots and in the comparatively 

 pale colour of the same as well as in size. This is true also of the 

 Salamanders found over the greater part of France (var. tceniata, 

 with mai-kings hardly ever orange), and yet the localities about 

 which we have definite information are on the most different 

 geological formations : — a. Ambleteuse, near Boulogne (Kim- 

 meridge and Upper Oolite, clay with lime) ; h, c. St. Malo and 

 Roscoff (Granite) ; d. Bordeaux (Pliocene and Oligocene clays) ; 

 e. Marly, near Paris (Oligocene limestone) ; /. Eaux-bonnes, 

 Pyrenees (Cretaceous limestone). This list clearly indicates 

 that, in France at any rate, the subsoil has nothing to do with 

 the coloration of Salamanders.] 



4. A quite special increase of yellow colour and its intensity, 

 as well as appearance of red spots, takes place on a clay soil, 

 while, on the other hand, the reverse takes place on black 

 humus. 



Dr. Kammerer concludes by observing that the above correla- 

 tions are subject to many irregularities, and that he would 

 formulate them with reserve, wei'e it not a fact that these 

 irregularities or apparent exceptions are almost invariably to b© 

 satisfactorily explained by the simultaneous occurrence of opposed 

 factors in one and the same locality {e. g.^ water poverty but clay 

 soil, or warm climate but calcareous hills, &c.) and that it is 

 therefore necessary to make a complete investigation of the 

 physical conditions of each separate locality. 



[Suffice it to add once more that the large Belgian Salamander, 

 copiously marked with yellow, occurs in great abu.ndance in places 

 offering a combination of the two principal factors which, ac- 

 cording to Kammerer, would produce small size and scarcity of 

 markings, viz., a dark soil I'ich in lime and a cold climate. 



It is also important to observe that, contrary to Kammerer's 

 resvilts, our blackest specimen of the typical form is from a hot 

 locality (Ticino) at an altitude of only about 600 metres, our 

 yellowest from the highest altitude on record, 1600 metres 

 (Calabria). It might be objected that in the case of the latter the 

 altitude is compensated by the latitude, but that will not answer, 

 since at a more southern latitude, and almost at sea-level, on the 

 north coast of Africa, paucity of yellow markings is the rule. In 

 the var. tceniata, a totally black specimen has been recorded from 

 the Siebengebirge (Rhenish Prussia), whilst the opposite extreme 

 of almost wholly yellow specimens is on record from as distant and 

 dissimilar localities as the Harz, Bilbao, Toulovise, and (?) Rome.] 



