No. 387-] DESMOGNATHUS FUSCA. 237 
which I have verified on a few occasions. As in the Anurous 
genus Alptes, the eggs, on emission, are connected by an albu- 
minous thread, which soon contracts and hardens. One of the 
sexes protects this rosary by wrapping it several times round 
the body and remaining concealed in a comparatively dry spot. 
How long this guard continues is not known.” (COPE, ’89, 
pp. 196, 197.) 
After searching for such eggs during several seasons in 
vain, I was able finally to confirm these statements by means 
of a batch of eggs which were laid in my laboratory ¢errarium. 
When found (June 1, 1898), the position of the mother and 
Outer envelope Outer envelope 
. ' 
» 
Stalk for attachment 
Fic. 3. FIG. 4. 
Fic. 3. — Egg of Desmognathus fusca. x5. 
Fic. 4. — Egg of Spelerpes bilineatus. x 5. 
eggs was as represented in Fig. 2, which is drawn as though 
looked directly down upon from above. 
The adult lay beneath a brick and in an irregularly oval hol- 
low made in the mud, evidently by herself. 
The eggs, which showed then no signs of development, and 
which must have been just laid, were, indeed, wrapped about 
the body of the parent, but not in a definite single string. 
Each was surrounded by a loose outer membrane which ta- 
pered a tone end to a strong cord, and several or all of these 
cords seemed to focus at a single point, much like a bunch of 
toy balloons held in the hand of a street vender. The attach- 
ment to the body was loose, and was evidently effected by the 
female by winding her body in among the strings. The eggs 
changed their position somewhat from day to day, as though, 
by the movement of the parent, new combinations had been 
