No. 393-] AUTODAX LUGUBRIS HALLOW. 699 
this fact is not without significance for such animals as our 
land-dwelling salamanders also. But we can hardly believe 
that such moisture can do more than prevent evaporation to 
some extent. It does not appear to us possible that sufficient 
water to insure the development of the eggs can be derived 
from this source. Our specimens were always more or less 
completely covered, and as the earth on which they were kept 
was constantly wet almost to saturation, and as they were not 
subjected to the direct heat of the sun at any time during their 
confinement, the evaporation from them under the artificial condi- 
tions could hardly have been greater than that under the natural 
conditions ; and it appears impossible that any such quantity of 
water could be drawn from the dry soil in which they were found 
as it was necessary to give them each day to prevent desiccation. 
The possibility that the urine of the parent might be the 
chief source of moisture to the embryos was suggested by the 
large size of the urinary bladder, and it is by no means im- 
possible that the suggestion is well founded. However, a study 
of the structure of the organ and a comparison of it with its 
counterpart in other species where it is certainly not put to 
such a service do not confirm the conjecture. The bladder 
of Autodax does not differ either in size or minute structure 
from that of Diemyctylus, for example, the young of which are 
hatched in water. In fact, the bladder of Diemyctylus is of 
the two-lobed type, while that of Autodax is not lobed, and 
hence may be looked upon as the simpler of the two. 
(See Field (94), for a discussion of the different types of 
amphibian urinary bladder.) 
The Embryos and their Development. 
As already said, there were nineteen embryos in our batch. 
Each was contained in a gelatinous capsule and was firmly 
anchored to a clump of earth by a narrow peduncle, about 8 
mm. long, composed of the same material as the capsule. The 
peduncles were attached to the earth close together; in fact, 
their adhesive, expanded, attached ends were more or less 
confluent (Fig. 4). 
