42 FAMILIAR LIFE IN FIELD AND FOREST. 



corded from Ottawa, so it is apparent that its geo- 

 graphical distribution is very wide. 



The most elongated and slender native species 

 of salamander is the Plethodon ciiwreus, whose body 

 and tail, cylindrical throughout, meas- 

 ure about four inches 



Plethodon cinereus. 



length ; the tail is sometimes considerably longer than 

 the head and body. The color above is dark brown, 

 and below it is dull white, so thickly sprinkled with 

 mottled brown that the general appearance is like 

 that of " pepper and salt." 



This little fellow is characteristically sylvan. His 

 habits are exclusively terrestrial ; he is never found 

 (even in the larval stage) in the water. He hides 

 under the stones and fallen trunks in the forests 

 everywhere, and never strays to the open fields. The 

 eggs are laid in a little package beneath a stone 

 in a damp place; when the yoiing emerge they are 

 provided with branchiae (gills of a fringelike appear- 

 ance), but these soon vanish, and very small speci- 

 mens are often found without them. I do not recol- 

 lect that I have ever found this salamander in ISTew 

 England; but in the woodlands of southern New 



