THE BATRACHIA OF NORTH AMERICA. 101 



tend nearly as far forwards as the orbits, and surround the tail to its 

 extremity. Muzzle black. 



Measurements. Id- Lin. 



Total length 3 6. 



Length to ciinthus oris (straight) 2. 25 



Length to gular fold fi. 



Length to groiu 18. 7 



Width of head 3.2 



Width above femora 2. 25 



The shades of coloration iu this creature are those of the Ambhjstoma 

 opacnm, but are differently arranged. 

 No. 378(5; 1 spec; Grahamville, S. C; Bailey. 



CHONDROTUS MICROSTOMUS Cope.* 

 American Naturalist, 1887, p. 88. 



Ambli/stoma 2)orj)hyriticum, Hallow., Proc. Ac. Phila., 1856, p. 8 (neo Salaniandra por- 



phyrUiea, Green). 

 Amblystoma micros to mnni Cope Proc. Ac. Phila., 1867, p. 206; Strauch, Salam., p. 65; 



Bonleuger, Cat. Batr. Grad. Brit. Mus., ed. ii, 1882, p. 50, PI. ii, fig. 4. 



This species is among the most slender of American Amblystomidte, 

 and has other peculiarities by which it is readily recognizable. The skin 

 is very smooth and slippery, with the glands less evident in the skin 

 than in A. opacum, jeffersomamim, etc. The skin is everywhere covered 

 with small shallow pits, only visible when the mucus is removed, which 

 shows the tail to be sometimes conspicuously granulated, the granules 

 probably corresponding to the ends of the glands. There are no evi- 

 pores or pits of larger size than the others on the head and parotid, as 

 dent in some Amblystomata. 



The head is very small, narrower than the body, with little or no 

 constriction at the neck. It is contained about six and oue-half to seven 

 times iu the distance to the groin. The muzzle is short and wide. The 

 head is much arched in every direction, the eyes far forward and lateral. 

 The lower jaw projects a little beyond the border of the upper, concealing 

 the latter when viewed from above. The eyes are distant less than the 

 length of the orbit from the nostrils, their anterior extremities sepa- 

 rated by IJ times this unit. The nostrils are one orbit length apart. 

 The anterior edge of the orbit falls opposite the middle of the gape 

 instead of in its posterior third, as iu Amblystoma jeffersonianum. The 

 gular fold is distant from the snout one-fifth the distance to the groin. 



The body is slender for the genus. There are fourteen costal furrows, 

 including the inguinal and axillary. There is a slight indication of a 

 dorsal groove posterioily. 



The tail is about two-thirds the head and body. It is nearly cylin- 

 drical at base, and then becomes slightly compressed, more and more so 

 to the tip, where it is quite flat, but without crest, althougli the edges 

 nre sharp. Viewed from the sides, there is a constriction at the base of 

 the tail. It is one-fourth higher in the middle than at the base. 



* Plate 2.5, figs. 1,2. 



