56 University of California Publications in Zoology [Vol. 27 
perature ranged higher, probably about 65° F. ; these began hatching 
on January 23 and three days later about half of the larvae were out; 
the time of incubation here was from eighteen to twenty-one days. 
A newt larva, at hatching, measured as follows: total length 
11.8 mm. ; head-and-body 7.35 mm. ; thickness of head 1.47 mm. ; 
length of bud of fore limb 1.18 mm.; ‘ balancer ’ 1.06 mm.; longest 
gill filament 1.18 mm. ; height over fins at anus 2.06 mm. Camp (MS) 
notes that the hind limbs appeared on larvae 14 to 16 millimeters long, 
one week after hatching. 
For a short time after hatching the larvae rest on the bottom of 
the pond, but soon they move about actively and in a few days they 
avoid observation by darting into the cover of aquatic vegetation 
whenever frightened. When a month or more of age they are very 
adept at this and, except in shallow ponds, much careful searching is 
required in order to find them. 
At the Thornhill Pond a larva 19.5 millimeters in total length was 
found on June 21, 1922, and two, 41 and 46 millimeters respectively, 
were obtained there on August 10 of the same year. At Lafayette 
numerous larvae about “1% inches” (37 mm.) in length were noted 
in a creek on July 18, 1922. In San Pablo Creek near Orinda, Contra 
Costa. County, larvae were found in abundance on August 7, 1922; 
they ranged from 19 to 41 millimeters in total length. In 1922 the 
newts in San Pablo Creek began spawning about March 20. 
Larvae of torosus have been kept in captivity without metamor- 
phosing for long periods. Ritter (1897, p. 108) mentions one indi- 
vidual which was kept nearly four years and was then preserved to 
make sure of it for study; Camp (MS) kept some in captivity for a 
similar length of time, 1908-1912. In the wild, the larvae do not 
always transform during the same season in which the eggs are laid ; 
thus, four individuals (nos. 4727, 4729-31, Mus. Vert. Zool.) collected 
in Bailey Canon at 2500 feet, near Sierra Madre, Los Angeles County, 
on April 4 and May 11, 1909, measure 52 to 63 millimeters in length, 
and are nearly but not entirely transformed. They obviously were of 
the brood of the previous year. At Corvallis, Oregon, Chandler (1918, 
p. 8) reports that during the middle of summer larvae of two distinct 
sizes can be found, the smaller up to 21 millimeters in length, the 
larger averaging about 40 millimeters. In view of the late breeding 
this author believes that the larvae do not transform until the second 
summer. 
