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University of California Publications in Zoology [Vol. 27 
about December, 1915, an adult was found some distance underground 
when a ditch was being dug. At Galt, Sacramento County, on Decem- 
ber 31, 1914, a female was found beneath some redwood posts piled 
on the surface of the ground. These occurrences suggest that the 
adults take refuge in damp places during the daytime, coming forth 
at night to forage, and that in the winter they are up near the surface 
of the ground, whereas in dry weather they probably take refuge in 
deep burrows. 
Examination of the adult animals in the collection of the Museum 
of Vertebrate Zoology, gives a clue to the probable time of spawning. 
A female collected near Concord, Contra Costa County, about Decem- 
ber 24, 1919, contains numerous ovarian eggs, the largest of which, 
after preservation in alcohol, are about 2 millimeters in diameter. 
The specimen collected at Galt, Sacramento County, on December 31, 
1914, contains ova of similar size. The female obtained at Ripon, San 
Joaquin County, on April 2, 1912, has only very small ova. One 
specimen from Mount Hamilton, Santa Clara County, has the cloaca! 
region greatly swollen, ordinarily a sign of breeding activity, while 
the oviduct is quite small, suggesting that laying had been completed. 
This specimen unfortunately bears no date of capture. These data, 
in connection with the information given below concerning larvae, 
suggest that egg laying probably occurs regularly in January or Feb- 
ruary, at the height of the winter rainy season. 
In 1924 a special visit was paid to the eastern margin of the Great 
Valley, in San Joaquin and Calaveras counties, to search for the eggs 
of this salamander. As stated in the preceding paragraph the infor- 
mation gleaned from examination of adult specimens and the capture 
of larvae pointed to the peak of the winter rainy period as being the 
time of spawning. The winter of 1923-24 was very deficient in rain- 
fall and so ordinary calculations were of little value, but it was 
thought that spawning might occur after the first rain in this period 
sufficient to establish the usual winter rain pools. Rain to the amount 
of more than one inch fell in central California on February 6 to 9, 
and on February 15 numerous pools in western Calaveras and eastern 
San Joaquin counties were visited and searched for amphibian eggs. 
The Bellota pool, mentioned below as a regular station for the species, 
was dry, and in none of the other pools in the near vicinity could any 
amphibian eggs be found. However, in some similar pools (pi. 1, 
fig. 1) along the Lodi road, about 2 and 4 miles west of Wallace, in 
eastern San Joaquin County, eggs were found (pi. 8, fig. 18) which 
