252 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



In its adaptation to terrestrial life the four-toed salamander 

 again approaches the red-back (P. cinereus), although in this 

 respect it has not gone as far. 



The following description of the female is from a living, mature 

 specimen found coiled about her eggs May 30, 1919. Total length, 

 75 mm; tail, 42.4 mm; head, length, 8 mm, width, 5.6 mm (behind 

 eyes). Color: head and trunk above dark reddish brown, becoming 

 grayish on the lower part of the sides between the costal grooves; 

 snout, lighter, bronzy; upper side of limbs and tail with a ground 

 color of reddish orange blotched with darker brown; a small, 

 elongate, light reddish patch on shoulders above the arms and less 

 distinct specks of the same color in the costal grooves on the back. 

 Below, bluish white with irregular flecks of black mostly distributed 

 along the sides; center line of tail free from spots, that of belly 

 nearly so. 



The head is broad and flat, with the sides nearly parallel; the 

 snout blunt; the eyes are prominent and more or less retractile; 

 trunk cylindrical and short; tail long, the posterior half keeled 

 indistinctly above and below. Constriction at base of tail prominent, 

 a short distance behind anus. The limbs are slender but strong; 

 fingers and toes four, the inner and outer rudimentary. 



A distinct median dorsal groove originates near the base of the 

 tail and extends onto the head where it bifurcates and sends a branch 

 to each eye (plate 3, figure 2); thirteen or fourteen costal grooves, 

 the upper extension of which meet the dorsal groove at an acute 

 ang'e; gular fold prominent, continuing onto the neck where it 

 meets a lateral groove extending to the eye. The entire surface 

 of the skin has a finely pitted or granular appearance. 



Moesel ('18) states that the male is usually darker on the dorsal 

 surface of the body than the female, and that the ventral surface 

 is somewhat differently marked, that is " . . .is milky- white 

 with large inky-colored spots along the edges of the belly, throat 

 and pectoral regions. The abdominal region is devoid of spots." 

 C. and H. Thompson record specimens of both sexes taken from 

 beneath a log in April in which the females were, ". . . fully 

 twice as large as the males." I have no specimens of males and 

 am unable to add to the above accounts. 



A half-grown specimen 30.4 mm long, anomalously colored, has a 

 striking resemblance to some specimens ofPlethodon cine- 

 reus. The red of the back of the tail in young four-toed sala- 

 manders is often continued well forward over the trunk but in this 

 specimen the ventral surface is also aberrantly marked. Instead 



