AN ALBINO SALAMANDER, SPELERPES BILINEATUS. By Arthur M. Banta and Ross vViken Gortner. Of the Carnegie Station for Experimental Evolution, Cold Spring Harbor, Nevj York. In May, 1912, while collecting amphibian material in the field the writers took an albino tic (a xanthic) larva of Spelerpes hilineafvs Green. The larva was a year old and measured about 4.3 centi-meters in length. It was colored a uniform yellowish orange, except for the gills, which were reddish from contained blood, and the eyes, which appeared opaque white. While this individual entirely lacked black pigment in the skin, eyes, and connective tissue as well, it had the normal amount of yellow pigment. In fact the animal was so conspicuously yellow that it seemed hard to believe that it did not have more than the normal amount of this pigment; but a close examination of the skin of normal individuals convinces one that there is a large amount of the yeUow pigment, but that it is pretty thoroughly masked by the large amount of melanin present. The color of this albino larva was recorded by using one of the Milton Bradley color tops. The exact shade of the body color was most nearly matched with the following percentages: Black, 39; white, 9; orange, 28i; and yellow, 23|. A normal of the same size and apparent stage of development was matched on the head region with: Black, 74^; white, 8; orange, 4; yellow, 13 J. The body region was recorded as: Black, 85|; white, 4; orange, 2; and yellow, 8|. The percentage of black given in the color record of the albino does not indicate partially concealed black pigment, but was neces-sary in order to obtain the proper density of the orange yellow. The albino was kept in a large battery jar provided with water, sand, and stones, and was fed upon small annelids and slender strands of beef. It took food very well and grew rapidl}?-. It began to resorb its gills early in the following October and completed its transformation in two or three weeks. During transformation it became distinctly more orange in color than it had previously been and there appeared two distinct dorsal lines not evident before. These bands were at either side of the median line running back from just in front of the shoulder region to well along the base of the Proceedings U-S. National Museum, Vol. 49— No. 2112. 377
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