NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 493 




SiREDON, A LARVAL SALAMANDER. — At the last meeting of thé Boston 
Society of Natural Sepai bo T Professor O. C. Marsh, of Yale 
College, gave an accoun some servations which he had recently 
nade on the metam fa cain of one on into Ambiystoma, two genera of 
tailed Batrachians, usually placed in distinct families. During an excur- 
Rock ntains in —_— last, Professor Marsh obtained in 
Lake Como, a small brackish sheet of water in Wyoming Territory, sev- 
> Specimens of Siredon ohonetie Baird, known in that region as t 
th 
“The SA vad A in the transformation, was the appearance of 
dark spots on the sides of the tail,-and soon after the membrane along the 
k, and especially that below the tail, began to disappear. Next the 
branchiæ, or gills, began to be absorbed, and the animal came 
More frequently to the surface of the water for air. As the an went 
oe their tice abches: bec abated: and the openings on the neck 
a ' e body also auaibtied in size, the head changed in form, 
becoming more rounded above and more oval in outline, and the eyes be- 
d prominent. The opening of the mouth and the 
nsformation in about thre ; er the species ever 
in Lake C , Which is about 7,000 feet sieve the sea, is uncer- 
that it breeds in the Siredon TE like the Axolotls from the 
of Mexico, there can be li dou is interesting meta- 
e fy 
val Tenders it extremely probable, iat all Siredons are merely 
be Sane and it also suggests a doubt whether some, at least, 
: other so-called get oe eee may not be the undeveloped 
8 Of Well-known s spec 
“sg ED BLACKBIRD Coomera secret Baird). 
a this the ay knowing of no name mo itable. They 
about the first of May, and disappear aoe the paa of June. I 
think they breed in this country. They made themselves valuable 
rs las i p 

