74 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. [3D Ser., 



parison between the two species. The description of T. 

 torosus which then follows contains various measurements 

 and anatomical details, on the whole accurate and satisfac- 

 tory. In a few particulars, however, I am at a loss to know 

 how to account for his statements. Thus he tells us that 

 the vas deferens is not white but " ganz schwarz." Of the 

 hundreds of specimens which I have examined I have never 

 seen a case in which the vasa deferentia were any other 

 color than white. The point is one of no particular im- 

 portance, but if such a variation occurs it is certainty 

 very rare, and it is a little curious that Eschscholtz should 

 have happened upon it in the few .specimens that he seems 

 to have had. 



Again, he states that the testis is not divided into two or 

 three parts by " quere Einschniirungen," but is entirely 

 simple and oval in form. This is certainly not true in the 

 great majority of specimens. It is almost always divided 

 into two or three portions, distinctly and usually quite widely 

 separated from one another. 



He erred further in concluding that the openings at 

 the summits of the black-tipped papilla? of the integument 

 are only deceptive appearances. As a matter of fact such 

 openings do exist, as I shall show later on. 



The next naturalist to study the animal was Gra}r ('39). 

 This author gives a brief description and also a figure of it. 

 It hardly seems credible, however, that the figure (No. 3, 

 Plate XXXI) to which he refers could have been made 

 from a specimen of this newt. If it was, either the artist 

 or the specimen, or both, were very unworthy representa- 

 tives of their kind. 



The best general figure of the species that has here- 

 tofore been published is that contained in Girard's Atlas, 

 Herpetology, U. S. Exploring Expedition, Plate I, fig. 1. 

 This is from a sketch from life by Jos. Drayton, and on the 

 whole is quite satisfactory for the variational form which it 

 represents. I have, however, never seen an individual in 

 which there was so strong and abrupt a contrast between 

 the orange of the underside of the trunk and the yellow of 



