404 REED-WRIGHT^THE VERTEBRATES OF [October i, 



25. Family Desmognathid^. 



73. Desmognathus fusca (Rafinesque). Dusky salamander. 



One of the most abundant salamanders in the lake basin. It is 

 found under most any sort of object which will furnish cover in 

 wet and marshy places along the cooler streams. The maximum 

 period of egg-laying is July. The eggs are laid in clusters joined 

 by a slight cord to a common focus but not attached to extraneous 

 objects as in the case of Plethodon erythronotus. The female at- 

 tends the eggs and is found usually with the body partly encircling 

 them. The larvae transform from September to December, when 

 they are from 18 to 20 millimeters long. 



26. Family Pleurodelid^. 



74. Diemictylus viridescens Rafinesque. Vermilion-spotted newt. 

 The most abundant salamander found in the lake basin. The 



adult is found in every pool, pond, ditch and stretch of standing 

 water. Individuals in the red land stage are common on the woods 

 under dead leaves and decaying bark and wood. The eggs are de- 

 posited singly upon the leaves of aquatic plants from April to June. 

 Larvae begin to transform to the red land stage in August, continuing 

 until September. Some individuals pass the winter in the larval 

 stage. After two and one half or three years the red land form 

 assumes a viridescent coloration and becomes permanently aquatic.^^ 



XIX. Order SALIENTIA. 

 27. Family Bufonid^. The Toads. 



75. Bufo americanus Le Conte. American toad. 



Abundant. The average date of emergence from hibernation is 

 April 15. The earliest recorded date is March 19, 1903. They 

 proceed immediately to the water where the eggs are deposited. The 

 maximum period of egg-laying is between April 20 and May 30, 

 although stragglers continue to spawn until July. The larval period 

 lasts for about sixty days, the tadpoles beginning to transform about 

 the last of June. The latest fall record- for this species is October 

 20, 1906. 



"See Gage, S. H., "Life-history of the Vermihon-spotted Newt," Am. 

 Nat., 1891, p. 1084. 



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