174 BULLETIN 34, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



becomes suffused with a kind of purplish-brown. The belly is gener- 

 ally immaculate until the animal is quite old, when it is finely sprinkled 

 with dots like grains of fine powder. 



The color of a fresh specimen is as follows. It is fully grown, and was 

 taken April 7, 1848 



4 6 7 



Pig. 43. Spclerpes ruber. No. 7903. Carlisle, Pa. ; \. 



Pupil small, elliptical, major axis horizontal, brassy, with horizontal 

 dark line. General color dark salmon-red. Whole upper parts marked 

 with rounded spots, largest along back, about size of the eye and less, 

 of black or dark. Between these spots is a clouding of dark red- 

 dish-brown, as if the black of upper parts had run after being first 

 put on. Frequently, however, there is an obscure areola of the ground 

 color around the spots; on sides of body and tail, external portion of 

 limbs, less of the interstitial dark reddish-brown. Whole under surface 

 sprinkled with minute black dots, larger towards the chin. Extreme 

 edge of snout blackish, as also of lower jaw to a less degree. 



Individuals vary somewhat in coloration; sometimes the dots on the 

 belly are more aggregated towards the center, sometimes the interstitial 

 color on back purer, so as to define spots better, while again, on the other 

 hand, the whole upper parts are so much shaded with the reddish-brown 

 as to nearly obscure the black spots. 



The eye can be retracted or protruded as in the figures, and also con- 

 cealed by the approximation of the lids. The transparent lower lid 

 can be brought up and over lower half of the eyeball. 



In young individuals the colors are much purer; the whole body 

 being of orange, of different shades in different individuals; darker 

 above, with spots of black on upper half of body, larger along back, 

 irregularly distributed, beneath generally unspotted. The lower jaw 

 Avith a row of spots around its margin. 



Observations. — This is an abundant species throughout the United 

 States east of the Mississippi Eiver as far north as Maine, and corre- 

 sponding latitudes in Canada, and south into Texas and Florida. It 

 chiefly abounds in the hilly and mountainous sections. It is especially 

 aquatic in its habits, and is found on the ground only after rains. It is 

 not unfrequently found under bark of fallen trees in damp situations, 

 but its chief haunts are cold springs. Here, beneath stones, it may 

 be always found, occupying, if possible, the fissure from which the lim- 

 pid water rises, and displaying its beautiful hues through the trans- 



