IOO CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. [3D See., 



considerable number are being extruded is an essential con- 

 dition to the production of the characteristic masses; but I 

 am convinced that it would ordinarily be impossible for her 

 to separate them even were she to move from place to place 

 during the process of their deposition, so closely do they 

 adhere to one another. 



Occasionally, however, they are not in contact with one 

 another, and in such cases may be deposited one in a place 

 like those of D. viridescens and Triton. 



Thus, not only have eggs been deposited singly by females 

 kept in confinement, several times during the last three or 

 four years, but recently I have observed the same thing, in 

 one instance at least, in a state of nature. 



While at the reservoir, on March 19 last, I noticed sev- 

 eral females closely hugging small pebbles at the bottom of 

 the water, and with their bodies contorted and rigid. One 

 of these I was able to secure, and I found that she had de- 

 posited a single egg on one side of the pebble. It is possible, 

 to be sure, that others would have been placed there also 

 had she not been disturbed; but there were no others in 

 sight in her cloaca, and from the fact that the bunches are 

 usually deposited as such, practically, I have no doubt that 

 the eggs were here being laid one by one, as they not in- 

 frequently are in confinement. 



It is interesting to note, in this connection, Jordan's state- 

 ment that "the eggs [of D. viridescens] are laid singly, as 

 a rule, but occasionally two, and rarely three, may be de- 

 posited successively in the same nest; " and we have 

 definite knowledge that at least one other long-tailed Am- 

 phibian presents a variety of habit quite similar to that here 

 described in its manner of depositing eggs. Hay ('89) says 

 concerning the ova of Amblystonea microstomum, that " they 

 are attached singly and in bunches of various sizes to blades 

 of dead grass." 



The bunches are preferably attached to sticks that are 

 firmly anchored to the bottom or the bank of the stream or 

 pond; but almost any object, as stones, water weeds, ropes 



