OF THE SPOTTED SALAMANDER. lOl 



kept in black surroundings being on transformation darker than 

 the mother, and the spots smaller and more numerous. 



To appreciate fully the markings on these Salamanders it is, 

 however, necessary to bear in mind the fact that it is possible 

 to define two forms of S. maculosa. As I pointed out in a paper 

 brought before this Society some years ago *, authors in dividing 

 this Salamander into a number of varieties have dwelt on 

 supposed structural characters, whilst ignoring the disposition 

 of the markings. I showed that two principal forms existed, 

 namely, the typical form and the variety tceniata : the former, in 

 which the yellow appears as markings of various shapes disposed 

 anyhow over the body, being more or less an eastern form ; the 

 latter, in which the dorsal spots are regularly disposed in two 

 parallel series continuous with the markings on the parotoids, 

 being a more western form. The markings in the last referred 

 to variety may form regular bands or be broken up into 

 numerous small spots, which, however, always retain their 

 duplex disposition, not encroaching over the black vertebral 

 area, or, if they do so, as is rarely the case, they will be 

 connected by a cross-bar in an H-shaped form. The habitat of 

 the forma typica appears to be bounded to the west by the Erz 

 Mountains, the Danube, the Alps, and the Rhone, Salamanders 

 from east and south of that line belonging to it. All over 

 France, west and north of the Rhone, Belgium, S. Holland, 

 Western Germany, Spain, and Portugal the variety tceniata 

 alone occurs, with very rare exceptions. Both are found together 

 only on the line of demarcation, such as in the French Jura, 

 where the variety tceniata/ predominates, but is not completely 

 fixed. 



Even amongst Salamanders from the neighbourhood of the 

 line of demarcation it is rare to experience any difficulty in 

 classifying them into either of the two forms, and I was 

 therefore much puzzled by Secerov's results, as neither of his 

 Salamanders kept during their larval life under yellow sur- 

 roundings were quite normal tceniata. One of these Salamanders 

 was specially abnormal, as two spots on the anterior part of the 

 body fused together over the vertebral area ; and I should have 

 felt some doubt in referring it to the variety tceniata,, had I not 

 known the mother to be a. very typical specimen of this form. 



The results I have obtained help to solve the problem, as they 

 show that in the majority of cases, if the offspring of a Salamander 

 of the western variety tceniata is kept when in the larval 

 conditions in yellow surroundings, the markings will differ in 

 their disposition from those of the parent, and be similar in 

 their arrangement to what we find in the typical eastern form, 

 in which the spots are disposed in an irregular fashion over the 

 vertebral area. 



* "A Contribution to the Study of the Variation of the Spotted Salamander," 

 P.Z. S. 1911. 



