l 925 J Storer: A Synopsis of the Amphibia of California 
59 
like the creeks, were subject to the scouring action of the winter 
flood waters. Delay in spawning until the subsidence of high water 
would be of benefit to the newts because their eggs would be less 
likely to be washed down stream. The situation with respect to the 
newts which spawn in the streams is much like that described for 
Bana boylii boylii (see p. 259). The newts, however, are able to make 
use of ponds or reservoirs, which Bana boylii seems unable to do. The 
newts therefore have a wider range of spawning places. The ponds 
are suitable for egg laying before the streams, and in the absence of 
competition from other species of salamanders torosus could spawn 
there earlier. Thus torosus is able to make use of the habitats of both 
Bana boylii and Bana draytonii. 
By reason of the long period involved in larval development the 
newt can continue as a species only in places where there is water 
throughout the summer season, that is, either in separate ponds or in 
pools along creeks. The time of metamorphosis seems to be adjusted 
so that the young ordinarily emerge at or after the beginning of the 
winter rainy period, making' it possible for them to leave the water 
and migrate without danger of death by desiccation to suitable ter- 
restrial locations for the period of post-larval growth. 
The habits of torosus, as already pointed out by Ritter (1897), are 
quite different in many respects from those of viridescens of the east- 
ern United States as described by Gage (1891) and others. Torosus , 
structurally, is to be compared with the newts of eastern Asia. It 
differs from viridescens in its larger size, in laying its eggs in masses 
rather than singly, in the lack of color differences between the recently 
transformed adult and the older sexually mature animal. The larger 
size of the adult of torosus in contrast with the small size of viridescens 
would seem to be a factor of safety against death by desiccation in 
the terrestrial stage of the adult. Other things being equal, a small- 
sized salamander would run greater chance of death from the drying 
effects of the midsummer temperatures in the California foothills than 
an animal of larger bulk. The roughened and thickened skin of terres- 
trial individuals is a factor of aid in the same direction. In its seasonal 
change from rough to smooth skin, and vice versa, the skin of torosus 
changes from a condition resembling that of the toads of the genus 
Bufo which inhabit the arid portions of the southwest, to a condition 
like that of the highly aquatic frogs ( Bana aurora, B. pretiosa) which 
live in humid surroundings in the northwestern coast district or in 
high altitudes in the mountains. 
