74 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
adaptation to the surroundings, which make it advantageous for 
the creature to retain its larval features,” while “ others think that 
the surroundings somehow or other retard or prevent the assump¬ 
tion of the adult characters.” It may be possible, therefore, that 
Typhlomolge is a form closely akin to Spelerpes, whose retention 
of larval characteristics, although sexually mature, is a result of its 
environment and that in other surroundings it might, as was the 
case with Axolotl, undergo metamorphosis. 
Note. — Since this paper left our hands, an article has appeared on the 
Rank of Necturus among tailed Batrachia (Biol, hull., vol. 8, 1905, p. G7-74) 
in which the author, l)r. B. F. Kingsbury, takes the ground that Necturus and 
Proteus are permanent larvae and suggests, although with no investigation, 
that Typhlomolge will be found to be in the same condition. We hope that 
Dr. Kingsbury will continue his studies in this direction and ascertain, if pos¬ 
sible, the adult forms with which Necturus and Proteus are related. Their 
place can hardly be among the Plethodontidae, as this author suggests, since all 
the members of this family are, so far as is known, lungless, a condition which 
allows Typhlomolge to be included within this family, but seems to exclude 
the others.— H. H. Wilder. 
