1925] Storer: A Synopsis of the Amphibia of California 
135 
The eggs, as already described by Hitter and Miller (1899), are 
separate, not in masses like the eggs of the water-spawning Candata. 
Each egg is attached by a single slender twisted peduncle to the ‘ roof ’ 
of the nest chamber and the end of each peduncle is ‘ plastered ’ against 
the superstratum. This basal material can be teased out into a long 
string of material like that composing the peduncles and egg capsules ; 
one of these strings was 100 millimeters long, and fragments aggre- 
gated 50 millimeters more. There is no scar on the opposite side 
of the eggs as described by Snyder for Batrachoseps. The stalks of 
the several eggs are twisted about one another giving a braided 
appearance to the base of the whole mass. The peduncle is 8 to 20 
millimeters in length and about 1 to 2 millimeters in diameter. The 
eggs externally measure from 6 by 7 millimeters to 9.5 millimeters in 
outside diameter, the former being slightly oval, the letter more 
rounded and advanced in development (Miller, MS). The material 
from Monterey County measures about 6 millimeters in outside 
diameter. 
As indicated in the notes on the 1903 material, an adult animal 
(female) is usually in attendance upon the eggs. Suspension of the 
eggs from the roof of the cavity permits the salamander to bring its 
body closely in touch with the eggs. Parental attention seems to be 
necessary for at least two reasons. Eggs left to themselves usually 
perish through desiccation ; the parent individual therefore provides 
moisture, either from her skin or from the bladder, which in the case 
of adults in attendance upon eggs is usually found to be distended 
with fluid. Adult individuals in attendance upon eggs brought into 
the laboratory have occasionally been found to devour their own eggs. 
Whether this happens in the wild or whether other adults attempt to 
prey upon the eggs (as males of Triturus torosus are known at times 
to do with eggs of that species) is unknown. Should attempts of this 
sort occur in the case of Aneides the sharp teeth of the guarding 
female would appear to be an effective protection against such attack. 
The ‘embryonic’ and ‘larval’ stages of this salamander are both 
passed within the egg capsule. Gills are developed and these spread 
out and perform a function analogous to that of vitelline vessels in 
the higher vertebrates. The gills disappear before birth and the 
young salamander at birth is in general like the adult. No lateral 
line organs are developed, nor is a tail fin in evidence at any stage. 
However, not all of the yolk material is consumed before hatching, 
so that the recently emerged Aneides carries with it a small store of 
nutriment. 
