1880. } Zoblogy. 373 
they agree with what Prof. Owen says of the Triton cristatus and L. 
punctatus, The eggs are about an eighth of an inch long, ellipti- 
cal, with a tough envelope, and greenish fluid surrounds the yolk 
part. They are laid early in April or May, according to the season. 
The larvz are very timid. I have kept them till they became 
terrestrial and had yellow spots along their olive-green sides, but 
they would not eat, and died in about a week. I am very sorry 
not to have been able to keep any till they reached the red eft 
stage. Their dying so young makes a break in the chain of ob- 
served facts that prove the red eft to be a young form of the 
spotted salamander. 
The red eft (D. miniatus Raf.) was described as a different 
Same opinion (Proceed. Phila. Acad., 1859). Mr. H. A. Kelly 
kept some red efts till they became spotted salamanders (AmERI- 
CAN NATURALIST, Vol. xu, p. 399). ave also observed the 
change several times. All the red efts I have seen were small. 
I believe, but am not able to prove at present, that the young 
D. viridescens attains its red garb the summer it is hatched, re- 
mains that color about a year, then gradually becomes duller as 
it attains full size. I have found red efts in dead wood some dis- 
tance from water, but never in the water; I found one November 
I, after two severe frosts, under a loose stone near a marsh. I 
have kept D. viridescens, A. punctatum and Desmognathus fusca 
alive for more than a year atatime. The first two species be- 
came so tame that they would stretch up their heads, expecting 
to be fed, whenever they heard my voice. I have seen D. virt- 
descens eat tadpoles. They never seem to be able to get enough 
of them. The salamander puts his nose close up to the tadpole 
and remains perfectly still. If the tadpole does not stir, his life 
is saved, for the salamander soon moves off; but if he wriggles 
the least bit he is down the throat of his enemy in an instant. In 
taking bits of meat from a wire, they slowly open the mouth, 
protrude the tongue, and gently pull it off. A. punctatum snaps off 
the meat with a quick jerk. 
_ Ihave never seen any salamanders use the fore foot as a hand 
in adjusting food in the mouth, or for removing objectionable 
7 
pieces, but I have very often seen my tree toads do so. 3 
they press it from the head and front legs by rubbing against 
some projection in the box, presenting different sides during the 
operation. Sometimes they remove the whole skin in this man- 
ner. At other times, after the old skin was removed from the 
