636 The American Naturalist. [July, 
From the excellent and detailed accounts given by Jordan we learn 
that during great sexual excitement the male clasps the female firmly 
for a long time ; then the animals separate and a remarkable procession 
follows, the male going in advance deposits sperm in special cases, 
spermatophores, which are taken up by the female and subsequently 
used in fertilizing the eggs before they are laid, that is, the sexual em- 
brace does not lead to transfer of sperm directly, but to subsequent. 
deposition of spermatophores that are gathered up by the female. These 
spermatophores are small gelatinous masses containing sperm, and are 
taken into the cloaca of the female as she walks over them. 
Apparently much the same series of events takes place in the breed- 
ing of Amblystoma. About Baltimore the eggs of this large salaman- 
der are very abundant in March and even in February in small pools in 
the woods, but the adults are then rarely seen. Since 1878 and’79 when 
F. S. Clarke’ succeeded in obtaining a male and a female and saw the 
eggs deposited in captivity, the adults have very rarely been taken at. 
the breeding season. Even: whén small pools, but four feet wide and 
nine inches deep, were thoroughly raked out before and after the eggs 
appeared, no adults were found, so that it was inferred that the laying 
takes place in the night and that the adults may even leave the water 
every day to conceal themselves under stones, ete. But this spring 
Mr. M. T. Sudler found a female moving away from a bunch of eggs 
early in the morning. This specimen kept isolated laid many eggs, 
and as these developed into normal larvæ, the existence of internal fer- 
tilization was proven. 
In these small pools the laying of amblystoma eggs was preceded by 
24 hours or so, last year and this, by the occurrence of white specks 
formed in lines on the dead twigs and leaves covering the bottom. 
These objects were quite conspicuous when the water was clear, and 
were at first thought to be some fungus growths from dead twigs, but 
on examination proved to be gelatinous pyramids or irregular cones of 
clear material bearing globoid, opaque, white enlargements at the tips. 
Each was about one half an inch high and firmly attached to a dead 
twig or leaf, generally at the edge of the latter as might be the case if 
put down from the clasping lips of the cloaca of Amblystoma. Dis- 
tributed at intervals of a few inches they formed lines of several to & 
dozen. Microscopic examination showed the opaque tips to be a mass 
of coiled, densely packed filaments, highly refracting and at first sight 
apparently with no ends, yet appropriate stains differentiated the essen- 
™The Development of Amblystoma punctatum. Studies Biol. Lab. J. H- U., 
Vol. I, Baltimore, 1879. 
