1925] Storer: A Synopsis of the Amphibia of California 
131 
The maxillary and mandibular teeth in Aneides are larger rela- 
tively than in any of the other amphibians of California. The teeth 
are dagger shaped, completely covered with enamel, and placed with 
the flat surface parallel to the outside of the jaw. When the mouth 
is closed they project beyond the line of meeting of the jaws. A 
practical way for a novice to distinguish between Aneides and Ensa- 
tina is to rub a finger over the end of the closed mouth, when the 
teeth of the former can easily be felt, whereas those of the latter can 
be detected only when the jaws are separated. It is evident that these 
large teeth serve some useful purpose in the economy of the species. 
Cope in 1869 (p. 109) when describing the related species ferreus, 
said : ‘ ‘ This curious genus is furnished with by far the most powerful 
dentition of any existing Salamander, and resembles in this respect 
the genera of the coal measures, Brachydectes, Hylerpeton, and Hylo- 
nomus. ” Later (1889, p. 185) he says: “I have little doubt that it 
is more capable of inflicting a bite than any other of the American 
Urodela. ’ ’ This surmise was confirmed in 1919 when Mr. Halstead G. 
White, while collecting in the Santa Lucia Mountains for the Museum 
of Vertebrate Zoology, was bitten on the finger by one of these sala- 
manders which was being taken from its hiding place in a rotted log. 
Ritter (1903) says it was reported that the adult animals collected 
from the trees at Berkeley “ showed fight” and would seize a stick 
or finger thrust near them. A student reported the same reaction by 
an individual on the ground. Of six adults, associated in pairs with 
egg clusters, five proved upon dissection to be females and one a male ; 
the male did not show fight, the females did. 
A further possible use of the enlarged labial teeth is indicated by 
Miller (MS) who states that pieces of a fungus which grows in the 
tree cavities inhabited by Aneides have been found in the droppings 
of the animals ; some of these were as much as 3 to 4.5 millimeters in 
length. Possibly this source of supply is resorted to when insect 
material is scant. It seems unlikely that insect life in sufficient amount 
could be found in the several cavities of an oak tree to support the 
large number of salamanders found tenanting certain individual cavi- 
ties. The fungus may therefore be a reserve food supply. This point, 
however, is discussed later.- 
Aneides seems to have become so specialized in its terrestrial exist- 
ence that it is no longer able to take up life in the water, although 
some of the species of Plethodontidae in eastern North America are 
able to live in water as well as on land. Miller (MS) confined an 
