
1086 The American Naturalist. [December, 
two are so much alike in shape as to render it a matter of some 
difficulty to distinguish them.” 
Five years later this close similarity of the red and aquatic 
forms so clearly enunciated by Baird lead Dr. Hallowell (’56) to 
express the opinion that “Dzemyctylus viridescens and D. miniatus 
are probably the same, the orange color and roughness being 
appearances which, the female more especially, presents after a 
long sojourn on land. At least this may be inferred from the 
known habits of the European Tritons.” 
Again, three years later Cope (’59) says : “ We include in the 
above synonyms (of Diemyctylus viridescens) those of the nominal 
species D. miniatus, which we think with Dr. Hallowell ('56) is a 
state of D. wiridescens. We have caught specimens. . . of 
every shade of color between vermilion and brownish-green. 
The color or character of the skin seems to be dependent upon 
the amount of moisture in the situations in which they are found. 
Those from high and dry spots are redder and rougher than those 
from marshy situations. Thus it is probable that this species 
undergoes changes similar to those of the European Tritons.” 
During the next twenty years opinions pro and con were 
expressed by various systematists, but the final and satisfactory 
proof of the identity of Diemyctylus viridescens and D. miniatus 
was given by Dr. Howard Kelly (78), who “brought home a 
number of Diemyctylus miniatus Raf., or little red lizard or red 
eft, and after keeping them in a dark box filled with saturated 
moss, they changed their color from a bright vermilion to the 
olive state characteristic of the D. viridescens?” The change took 
place in the autumn, and without entering the water, although 
they willingly remained in and under the water when placed 
there. He says further: “ The conclusion, then, is that instead of 
two well-marked species or a species and a variety, we have but a. 
single species, Diemyctylus miniatus.” 
Sarah P. Monks (’80), in discussing the differences in opinion 
concerning these two forms, adds: “I have also observed this 
change several times,’—7.¢., the change from the red to the 
viridescent form. “I have kept them (the larve) till they became 
terrestrial, and had yellow spots along their olive-green sides ; but 
7 FS 

