22 



only where the "second growth" of forest has been allowed 

 to come up undisturbed by annual fires. 



Some attempt to catalogue the Salamanders of the State 

 was made by De Kay in 1842 and published in the Natural 

 History of New York, and an incomplete, and in some 

 cases incorrect, list occurs in the Final Report of the Geol- 

 ogist of New Jersey, published in 1890. Particular in- 

 stances of erroneous statements will be found under my 

 descriptions of Ambly stoma punctatum and Plethodon ci- 

 ne re 71s. 



It is probable that all of the species occurring near New 

 York have been described, but the finding of an isolated 

 specimen once in two or three years would lead one to 

 think that perhaps there are undiscovered forms so rarely 

 seen as to have escaped the eye of a naturalist. Mr. Eugene 

 Smith, of Hoboken, N. J., reports finding a specimen of 

 Desmognathus ocropJicea near Greenwood Lake, although 

 no reference is made to its occurrence in New York south 

 of the Adirondacks, or possibly near the northern counties 

 of Pennsylvania. The New Jersey Geological Survey 

 states that it should be found in the northern counties, but 

 does not mention specimen^ from this locality as existing 

 in the State Museum. It may be expected that certain 

 supposed extra-limital forms still remain to be discovered. 

 For example, the Cricket-Frog (Acris gryllns) described 

 as more usually found "in the southern third of the State" 

 of New Jersey,* is abundant along the Saddle River valley 

 as far north as Hohokus, and is sparingly found in the low- 

 lying lands to the east. 



Although many insects are devoured by adult Salaman- 

 ders, the situations in which the latter live are generally so 

 far removed from farms as to render them of little use to 

 agriculturists. 



Any study of their habits or peculiarities must then be of 

 value to naturalists only, as an aid in establishing laws of 

 distribution or variation, thus directly bearing upon the 



* Geol. Survey, 1890. 



