THE BATRACHIA OF NORTH AMERICA. 211 



if they chose. For some days they remained hiding- under the wet 

 moss and stones, but finally crept out at night and went into the water. 

 I gave them some insects" and worms, which they readily devoured. In 

 about three months they lost their bright red, and in less than a year 

 they were of the usual olive of the Viridescens. Another fact, still more 

 decidedly bearing on the case, is, that some two-year-old Viridescens 

 taken from the ponds and put in earth and dead wet leaves in a tub in 

 my garden, without water, in a mouth or so began to lose their greeu 

 tint and assume a dingy, brownish hue." 



Professor Baird thus describes the breeding habits of this sala- 

 mander :* 



"In the spring of the year a broad fin becomes developed along the 

 tail and back of the male, and the feet enlarge, with the addition of a 

 black cartilaginous mass on the toes and inside of the thighs, for the 

 purpose of enabling it to hold on to the female. This it does by clasp- 

 ing her around the throat with the hind legs and retaining the hold for 

 some hours or longer, jerking her around in the water most unmerci- 

 fully during the whole time. A quantity of seminal matter is finally 

 discharged, which becomes diffused in the water, and fecundates the ova 

 while still in the lower part of the oviduct. The eggs are laid singly, 

 of an ellipsoidal shape, and invested by a very glutinous coat, by which 

 it is attached to the middle of an immersed leaf, which is then doubled 

 over it by the exertions of the female. The eggs, after remaining for 

 some time in this way, finally give birth to small larvae, the general 

 character of whose metamorphosis is much the same as that of the 

 species already described." 1 have found the habits of specimens of 

 this species in confinement quite as described by Baird. I found the 

 axils of the leaves of Utricular la to be used as places for the deposit 

 of eggs by the female. (See Journal Philadelphia Academy, 1866, p. 68.) 



Diemyctylus viridescens meridionalls Cope. 



Bulletin U. S. Nat .Mns., No. 20, 1880, p. :50. Molge meridionalis Cope; 

 Bouleuger, Anu. Magaz. Nat. Hist., 1888, January. 



This subspecies has the longer digits of the form Miuiatus, and low 

 cranial crests of the Viridescens, with which it also agrees in color. 

 Prom both forms it differs in the absence of red spots from the dorsal 

 region, which is instead covered with rather large black spots, which 

 continue on the tail. The ground above is olive ; below it is yellow, 

 which is marked with numerous small black spots. A character which 

 appears to be of importance is seen in the fore foot. The outer toe is 

 more than half as long as the penultimate, while in the Varieties Viri- 

 descens and Miniatus it is less than half as long. 



The first specimen of this form which I met with was sent to the 

 Smithsonian Institution from Matamoros, Mexico. G. W. Maruock 



^Iconogr. Encj'cL, vol. ii, p. 254, 1851. 



