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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 678 



strenuous days of nature faking it is after all 

 not surprising that even the salamanders are 

 beginning to take an active part in affairs. 



We watched the progress of the fight for a 

 few moments each time at intervals of about 

 forty-five minutes for three hours. 



Thinking that the occurrence might be 

 familiar to herpetologists, I sent a brief ac- 

 count of it to my friend Dr. C. Hart Merriam 

 for information. In his reply he regarded the 

 observation as important and expressed a re- 

 quest that the account be published in Science 

 as a matter of permanent record. 



The combatants were a salamander and a 

 garter snake. The salamander was about 

 eight inches in length, of a rather dark brown 

 color above and lighter below. On the back 

 and sides including the tail were irregularly 

 elongated roundish darker spots. His smooth 

 skin was naturally moist and being plump and 

 chunlvy he seemed to be a bull-dog of his 

 kind. Judging from the specimens kindly 

 shown me by Dr. Stejneger in the National 

 Museum the salamander was probably an 

 Amhlystoma. 



The garter snake was of good size, about two 

 feet in length, and with other stripes had red- 

 dish-brown markings on the sides. Both ani- 

 mals seemed to be in perfect condition for a 

 hard fight. 



When first seen in a narrow dry water course 

 I supposed that the snake was swallowing the 

 salamander, but the squirming of the snake at- 

 tracted closer attention and the salamander 

 was found to have a firm grip on the snake at 

 the base of the right jaw and neck. The snake 

 could not bite the salamander but writhed so 

 as to turn him over and over and drag him 

 along on his side or back withotit affecting the 

 grip of the salamander. His whole attention 

 seemed to be given to holding on without car- 

 ing whether he was right side tip or not. 



This moderately active writhing in which 

 the snake furnished all the energy continued 

 for over two hours with gradually waning 

 strength on the part of the snake. In the 

 course of the struggle they passed beneath a 

 bank and out of sight, but when last seen, half 

 an hour later they were out again at the old 



place. This time all was quiet. The sala- 

 mander was now in control. He had changed 

 his grip. He was directly in front of the 

 snake and had a deep hold on its upper jaw 

 covering its nostrils. The lower jaw of the 

 snake was hanging limp. The salamander 

 seemed fresh in the enjoyment of his victory, 

 while the snake was nearly dead. 



J. S. DiLLEE 



U. S. Geological Sxiea'et, 



Washington, T>. C, 



December 7, 1907 



TROTTING AND PACING : DOJIINANT AND RECESSIVE ? 



In his book. The American Trotter, Mr. S. 

 W. Pari in makes several allusions to the pro- 

 duction of pacers by trotters which sug- 

 gested to me the likelihood that the pacing 

 gait may be a Mendelian recessive in the 

 horse. In reply to my questions, Mr. Parlin, 

 who has kindly interested himself in the mat- 

 ter, assures me that he has never known a 

 natural trotter produced by two natural 

 pacers, though, of course, pacers are often pro- 

 duced by trotters. Mr. John Thayer, of Lan- 

 caster, Mass., tells me that his experience 

 agrees with that of Mr. Parlin. Certain 

 alleged cases to the contrary have proved to 

 be given erroneously. It seems, therefore that 

 there is prima facie reason to suppose that 

 the trotting gait depends on some physio- 

 logical factor which is absent from the pacer. 

 My object in writing this letter is to suggest 

 to American readers the desirability of in- 

 vestigating the subject more fully. The ma- 

 terials for doing so are not to be had in Eng- 

 land. It is scarcely necessary to point out the 

 extraordinary interest of this illustration of 

 Mendelian inheritance, if it should prove to 

 be genuine. No doubt either gait may to 

 some extent be acquired artificially by train- 

 ing, but I understand that the distinction be- 

 tween the natural trotter and the natural 

 pacer is so definite that doubtful cases are 

 exceptional. 



W. Bateson 



Cambkidge, England, 

 December 13, 1907. 



