88 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
as abundant on Grandfather mountain. If these species have the 
same habitsas Plethodon glutinosus, which burrows deep 
in dry weather, they could scarcely be found in numbers after such 
a protracted drouth as that of the fall of 1923. On the other hand, 
streams of considerable size had so shrunken that the aquatic forms 
were concentrated and more easily found. 
During the trip I was fortunate to have, as traveling companions, 
Professor and Mrs C. R. Crosby of Ithaca, N. Y., and Mrs S. C. 
Bishop, all of whom, at various times, helped in the hunt for 
specimens. 
Triturus viridescens viridescens (Raf.) 
One specimen, land form, Raleigh, October 26th. 
Ambystoma opacum (Gravenhorst ) 
Py i, Mie, Wey! 2 
Walnut creek bottoms, Raleigh, October 26th. Six specimens 
including two females with eggs. 
The two females were found, hiding with their eggs under masses 
of rotten wood and the débris left by flood waters of Walnut creek. 
The egg masses contained respectively 102 and 73 eggs with well- 
developed embryos. They were kept in the laboratory in damp 
earth and leaves, but showed no signs of hatching until placed in 
water late in the afternoon of December 6th. The following morn- 
ing many had escaped the egg envelops and others were in the 
process of hatching. In hatching, the embryo breaks out, leaving 
a ragged, or in some cases, a roughly crescentic opening with the 
inner envelop protruding. The separate envelops often retain the 
position they had before the larva escaped and the inner one with 
its surrounding layer of clear jelly may be removed from the 
stronger, outer covering. 
When first hatched the larva is somewhat pigmented, Bat the 
general color rapidly darkens after exposure to the light. A larva 
immediately after hatching is marked above with small black flecks 
of pigment on the head and on the back, except on each side of the 
mid-dorsal line, where there are a few small rounded or oval light 
areas. The tail fins and sides are mottled with yellow areas where 
the pigment is lacking. The balancers were all lost before hatching 
in the specimens here considered. 
The emergence of the larvae was, in some cases, coincident with 
the release of small nematodes, apparently from the jelly layer be- 
