26 BULLETIN 34, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Measuremenis of No. 'J897. 



M. 



Totalleugth 0.360 



Leugth to eud of vent 250 



Length to ojiposite groiu 220 



Length to opposite axilla OSO 



Length to opposite anterior branchia . 055 



Length to opposite eye 015 



Width of head at eyes 030 



Width of head between eyes 023 



Greatest width of head 040 



Leugth of anterior limbs 040 



Leugth of posterior liujbs 043 



Dexith of tail at middle ., 035 



The ground color is a liglit cliocolate brown, wbicli is sometimes 

 tinged with pink, and which is usually rendered lighter in tint by :in 

 infinitude of whitish si)ecliS and small spots, which reduce the ground 

 to a minute reticulate pattern. On this ground are distributed several 

 rows of spots of dark brown, which are quincuncially arranged, not very 

 close together, in from four to eight or nine irregular longitudinal rows. 

 These are wanting on the belly, but are continued on the tail. The in- 

 ferior surfaces are dirty white, clouded with the color of the back, but 

 they are sometimes colored like the back, including the dark spots. 

 The soles and palms are yellowish. A dark brown band passes along 

 the canthus rostralis through the eye, and extends some distance pos- 

 terior to it. In young specimens this band extends to the end of the 

 tail, involving the greater part of the sides. It is bordered above by an 

 ochreous yellow band, which also extends from the end of the muzzle to 

 the end of the tail. The median line of the head and back is dark 

 brown, this color ceasing above the vent. 



An entirelj'^ black variety has been sent mo by Dr. J. G. Garnier of 

 Lucknow, Ontario, which he has obtained from the Maitlandand Luck- 

 now Rivers. The only variation in the color consists of two obscure 

 band-like aggregates of yellowish-brown specks along the inferior and 

 superior borders of the muscular part of the tail. 



HaMts. — Dr. Samuel Kneeland, of Boston, gives an account of the 

 habits of two individuals of this species which he kept several months 

 in confinement. They were very hardy, having been frozen and thawed 

 several times during the winter. They were quite rapacious, eating 

 worms and fishes. They were most active at night, and during the day 

 avoided the light. They cleaned their branchiiT3 by stroking them with 

 their anterior feet. The fibrillar were alternately expanded and con- 

 tracted by pressure of blood and its absence. 



As may be seen from the following list, this species ranges through- 

 out the tributaries of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi, as well as 

 the rivers that How into the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, as 

 far north as the Tar River, North Carolinn. It has not yet been found 

 in either the Floridan or the Texaai districts. 



