232 LHE AMERICAN NATURALIST. > (VOL. XXXIII. 
difficulties of finding them and distinguishing them from each 
other are once removed. 
Early Reports of their Occurrence.— The earlier writers on 
the subject seem to have considered both species very rare, a 
circumstance which must be attributed wholly to their habit of 
concealment and the difficulty of finding them to one not familiar 
with their ways. They are evidently indigenous species, and we 
cannot here have to do with a recent increase in numbers, as in 
the case of the English sparrow or the periwinkle (Littorina). 
The first of these two salamanders to be discovered was Des- 
mognathus fusca, first described by RAFINESQUE ('20) as Tritu- 
rus fuscus, described later by HARLAN (22) under the name of 
Salamandra picta, and cited as such by STORER ('37) in his 
“Report. 
STORER states that he has never met with this species him- 
self, but includes it in the list of Massachusetts Amphibia on 
the authority of Dr. PICKERING, who had seen one specimen 
that was found in a well in Ipswich, Mass. ` 
DeEKay (43) includes this species among the fauna of the 
state of New York, on the ground that it has been found both 
in Massachusetts and in Pennsylvania. The other associated 
species, Spelerpes bilineatus, does not appear to have been 
reported by any of the above authors, and was first described 
by GREEN (18), who found it in New Jersey and named it 
Salamandra bilineata. It is thus clear that the two species 
in question, in spite of their abundance, were considered rare 
by the earlier authors. 
Of especial interest to me has been a more recent report, by 
J. A. ALLEN (68), on the Amphibia “found in the vicinity of 
Springfield, Mass.,” in which he adds, after the name Spelerpes 
bilineatus, “one specimen, rare.” j 
The next name on the list is that of Desmognathus fusca, 
which he has not found at all, but quotes it as having been 
found in the state. He writes that this species is “ equally 
rare with the preceding ” (że., S. bilineatus). This failure to 
find these two commonest species is the more singular since 
the author proves himself a careful collector by including in his 
list such species as Pseudotriton salmoneus and Plethodon gluti- 
