

1891.] The Vermition-Spotted Newt. 1085 
a very good description of the viridescent form, and near the end 
adds: “ The younger specimens vary considerably in being on 
many parts of the body destitute of black punctures, and in 
having the dorsal and ventral color of the same pale orange. It 
is decidedly aquatic.” As the last sentence follows without 
explanation, it apparently applies to both the young and the old, 
and is rather confusing. 
The year following Rafinesque, in placing several Urodeles in 
his new genus Triturus, remarks with reference to the adult 
Diemyctylus: “It must form a peculiar subgenus Diemyctylus”; 
and with reference to the red form he says: “It has almost the 
characters of the subgenus Diemyctylus, but differs from it by 
having the toes of the fore feet free ‘and unequal, the lateral ones 
much shorter, whence it may form another subgenus, Notophthal- 
mus.” That is, the adult viridescent and the immature red form 
were by Rafinesque placed in different genera. 
This was continued by some authors, as DeKay; by others 
the two were placed in the same genus, although considered 
specifically distinct. It thus continued until 1850—51, when 
Baird put both in the same genus, and remarks concerning them: 
“The salamanders were formerly divided into two great genera, 
Salamandra and Triton, the former with rounded tail and 
terrestrial habits, the latter with compressed tail and aquatic. 
The necessity of further division has, however, become apparent, 
and the old distinction into land and water salamanders is no 
longer tenable as parallel to any anatomical features. Thus, of 
the highly natural genus Notophthalmus (Diemyctylus) one 
species (Diemyctylus viridescens) is the most aquatic of all Ameri- 
can forms, the other (D. miniatus) the most terrestrial; yet the 
on Names.—x. Of the adult aquatic form: Spotted salamander, aquatic sala- 
mander, many-spotted salamander, common triton, spotted triton, crimson-spotted triton, 
spotted newt, water newt, eastern water newt, common newt, spotted eft or evet, 2. Of 
the red form: Scarlet salamander, yellow-bellied salamander, ph bgt as salamander, 
red lizard, little red lizard, rain lizard, red salamander, red newt, red eft or evet. 
Di. jon.—Representatives of the genus Diemyctylus are aiy in Europe, Asia, 
and North America. In North America are two well-marked species, —the D. torosus 
of the Pacific slope, and D. viridescens, the subject of this paper, throughout a large 
part of the eastern region. ess '87, p. 202.) 
2 The numbers in p I he bibliography at the end of the paper, 


