[1897, Embryology. 635 
Mr. Claude Fuller’ of the Technological Museum, Sydney, has de- 
seribed and figured a very peculiar gall from a common Australian 
plant, which bears a striking resemblance to a caterpillar with its head 
and anterior parts of its body thrown back in an “ attitude of defense.” 
Neither “ beetles nor inquilines seeking a suitable rearing ground for 
their young would be attracted by a caterpillar,” thus protecting the 
inhabitants from injury from that source and though “insectivorous 
and predaceous birds might be attracted by it, they would at once be 
repelled by its woodiness while small wood pecking species, which 
might prey on its inhabitants would seldom be attracted by its appear- 
ance.” 
Dr. Otto Lugger* has prepared an extended report of the insects 
injurious in 1896, and of the parasites of man and the domestic animals. 
EMBRYOLOGY.’ 
Breeding Habits of the Spotted Salamander.—The instincts 
and habits connected with the process of fertilization in the tailed am- 
phibia are so remarkable, that even a few imperfect observations on 
these processes in our common salamander (Amblystoma punctatum) 
seem worth recording in the hope of aiding in some future comparative 
study that may throw light upon this puzzling chapter in Natura 
History. 
Since Gasco? and Zeller’ showed that the European triton and several 
other salamanders have an internal fertilization and yet no copulation, 
Jordan,‘ and also Gage,’ have described much the same series of events 
in our common newt (Diemyctylus viridescens), while Ritter has re-. 
cently found similar phenomena in the western newt (J). torosus). 
' Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales, VII, 697. 
ê Minnesota, Agr. Exp. Sta., Bull. 48. 
l Edited by E. A. Andrews, Baltimore, Md., to whom abstracts, reviews and 
preliminary notes may be sent. 
? Gli amori del tritone alpestre, Geneva, 1880, and Les amours des Axolotyls. 
Zool. Anz., IV, 1881. 
* Ueber die Befruchtung bei den Urodelen. Zeit. f. wiss. Zool., 1890, XLIX. 
*Spermatophores of Diemyctylus. Journal of Morphology, V, 1891; and 
Habits and Development of the Newt. Idem., VIII, 1893. 
* Life History of the Vermillion-spotted Newt. Amer, NAT., Dec., 1891. 
° Diemyctylus torosu. Proc. Cal. Acad. Nat. Sci. Zool., Vol. 1, Jin 18, 1897. 
