Zool.— Vol. I.] RITTER—DIEMYCTYLUS TOROSUS. 75 



the throat as this figure indicates. The eyes are made 

 more prominent than they are in reality, and the pupils 

 are represented as circular, while in truth they are elliptical, 

 as my figures show; but this error is rectified by the author 

 in the text. 



Girard adopted for the animal the generic name Taricha, 

 proposed by Gray ('50). In his description he is at fault, or 

 at least only partially right, in several points; but it will be 

 advantageous to leave the correction of these errors to the 

 appropriate heads under which they will fall in the descrip- 

 tion which is to follow. 



I may, however, here call attention to one interesting 

 error in connection with the animal's seasonal variations. 

 Baird and Girard ('53) described Tricha Icevis, " allied to 

 T. torosa, Gray, but smoother, having but slight indications 

 of granulations;" and " Tail very much compressed, with 

 a fringe along the whole upper edge and the posterior half of 

 the lower." The specimens from which this supposed 

 second species was described were collected by Dr. John 

 L. LeConte, at San Francisco, in February, 1850 (Baird and 

 Girard ['53] , p. 300) . As will be apparent from the account 

 which follows of the animal's changes with the seasons of 

 the year, had Dr. LeConte collected his specimens in mid- 

 summer instead of midwinter, Baird and Girard would have 

 had no T. Icevis. 



Girard ('58) speaks of Icevis as having been " collected 

 and recorded" by Dr. LeConte under this name, thus 

 seeming to infer that it was Dr. LeConte who first distin- 

 guished a second species. He further states that Icevis is 

 distinguished from torosa by being " perfectly smooth," and 

 also by its having " proportionally smaller eyes and more 

 elongated toes." If there is an apparent difference in the 

 size of the eyes of the two forms, it is probably due to the 

 puffy condition of the bodies of the smooth winter forms. 

 This may cause the eyes to seem, relatively to the size of 

 the rest of the animal, smaller than in the "granulated" 

 forms. I have not, however, observed such a difference. 

 Concerning the supposed more slender toes of " Icevis," I 



Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci., 3D Ser., Zool., Vol. I. (2) Nov. 17, 1896. 



