
1098 The American Naturalist. [December, 
non-ciliated oral epithelium. Observations have not yet been 
sufficiently numerous or under sufficiently normal conditions to 
determine how soon after becoming viridescent and entering the 
water eggs are laid. 
Adult—By the adult is here meant the olive-green or virides- 
cent form (Pl. XXIII, Figs. 8-11). The normal habitat of the adult 
Diemyctylus is the water. In Ithaca, N. Y., Cayuga Lake, 
permanent pools in marshes and permanent spring-fed ponds in 
the higher or upland are favorite homes. The streams running 
into the lake are liable to sudden freshets, and Diemyctylus is 
rarely found in them, at least not within a mile or two of the lake 
valley. Specimens have been taken from the spring-fed ponds at 
all times of year except the depth of winter. For catching 
Diemyctylus in situations where the vegetation is abundant 
the best method has been found to take a strong net with a long 
handle and make blind sweeps with it in the water. Frequently 
where there is no sign of animal life, Diemyctylus and other batra- 
chians may be taken in considerable numbers in this way. Accord- 
ing to Storer and Holbrook, they may be seen occasionally in 
winter, swimming with great vigor under ice an inch thick. It is 
believed from the preceding that after once assuming an aquatic 
life the adult never leaves the water except on the drying of the 
ponds or a special scarcity of food. It is further believed from 
the facts stated above that although the aquatic forms may be 
kept in moist places out of the water for months, they never 
revert to a red coloration, and also that the viridescent forms 
found on land are in the great majority of cases transformed red 
ones that have not yet entered the water. 
The food consists of insect larvz, like caddis worms, adult 
insects, various aquatic worms, earthworms, small Crustacea, 
bivalve, and univalve mollusks. In captivity they learn to take 
bits of meat from a stick, to catch flies thrown on the water, and 
to catch tadpoles. It is quite possible that they indulge in this 
last mark of affection to their relatives in nature also. When 
catching tadpoles or other living prey the process is something 
as follows: The Diemyctylus moves slowly within reach of the 
prey, and remains perfectly quiet until the prey moves, when it is 





