BATRACHIANS AND REPTILES OF OHIO. Ill 



Plethodon cinereus cinereus Green. Body slender, plumbeous to ash 

 above ; below a pepper-and-salt appearance, turning to uniform light on the 

 mid-ventral line. Inner toes reduced. Length 4 inches. In alcohol the 

 body becomes brownish. Costal grooves 18. Legs small and weak, webbing 

 well developed. Distinguishable from the following by the absence of the 

 dorsal band of red. 



At Sugar Grove and elsewhere the writer has repeatedly 

 taken, along with good examples of the following sub-species, 

 specimens that are referable to the sub-species cinereus. 



At Worthington, a litter of young was found in which about 

 one-half were provided with the dorsal red band, and the 

 remainder showed no sign of it. For reasons such as these, 

 Jordan ('99) does not recognize the sub-species and the position 

 seems a correct one. It may be said, however, that in the great 

 majority of specimens the red baud is evident to a greater or less 

 extent. 



Specimens in the U. S. Nat. Mus., recorded by Cope from Ripley. In 

 the O. S. U. Mus., collected by E. V. Wilcox at Sugar Grove, and the author 

 at Columbus ; in the Ciu. Soc. Nat. His. by Dr. Lindahl at Cincinnati. 



Plethodon cinereus erythronotus Green. Same as above, but with a 

 median longitudinal dorsal band of red. 



Cope, '89, p. 135 : "I have been unable to detect any dif- 

 ference in structure, proportions and general character between 

 this supposed species and the foregoing." Again (1. c. 136), 

 "as varieties the} r are very permanent ones, as I have found all 

 the j^oung of the same brood or set of eggs, whether in the eggs 

 or just escaped from them, uniformly with either dark backs or 

 red ones." From the remarks under the sub-species, cinereus, it 

 will be seen that the present writer does not agree with Cope. 

 Wilcox ('91) records "numerous specimens of erythronotus''' at 

 same date and place and under same circumstances as the pre- 

 ceding. Withal the validity of the sub-species is doubtful. 



Dr. Ljndahl of the Cin. Soc. N. H., writes: "Common 

 throughout Hamilton Co. ; the one colored grey and the chest- 

 nut-black varieties often occurring in the same litter, together 

 with intermediate forms with a more or less faint reddish hue 

 along the back." 



The commonest of the salamanders in Ohio at the present 

 time. Occurs over the State, being found in numbers almost 



