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and average linkage techniques and the results of inclusion and exclusion of primitive character states, were compared. There are significant differences, and exclusion of primitive character states is recommended. We put most emphasis on a combinatorial analysis of our own, which takes into account the changes in the feeding system as a single complex unit and also makes use of the phenetic methods in which primitive character states are excluded. The result is the placement of the 14 genera in four groups: A. Salamandra, Chioglossa, Salamandrina; B. Triturus, Euproctus, Neurergus, Paramesotriton, Cynops, Hypselotriton, Pachytriton, Taricha, Notophthalmus; C. Pleurodeles; D. Tylototriton. The very primitive groups C and D are slightly modified remnants of ancient groups. Group A is the most derived group. Chioglossa and Salamandrina are the most specialized genera. Of two computer methods for deducing phylogenies, one compares well with these results, but the other does not.

IN his paper concerning the species of Californian Triturus, Twitty (1942) speculated that Triturus granulosus (Skilton) may be the form which stands nearest to the origin of this group and that the other species are more distantly related offshoots. This opinion is based on the idea that the genus Triturus embraces the eastern American newts, certain European and Asiatic forms, as well as the Californian group, and on the fact that Triturus granulosus agrees more closely than any other Californian species with those outside of California. The characteristics mentioned by Twitty are the egg-laying habits, the size of the eggs, the larval pigmentation, and the range of the species. During the years 1924-1939, European workers split up this world-wide genus, Triturus, into four revived genera (Wolterstorff, 1924; Herre, 1934, 1935, 1939): Triturus s. str. in Europe, Cynops in southeastern Asia, Notophthalmus in the eastern United States, and Taricha in western North America. This arrangement has since been partially adopted by certain American herpetologists (H. M. Smith and E. H. Taylor, 1948). Herre (1935), in the most thorough study of salamandrids published in the last twenty years, has put Taricha between the lower and the higher salamandrids. The lower salamandrids include Salamandra and its closest relatives and Pleurodeles and Tylototriton. The higher salamandrids are, with others, Notophthalmus, Cynops and Triturus. The results of my own studies on the anatomy and biology of the reproduction of salamandrids, which have been carried out on 35 of the 43 living species of the family, strongly support these views and reveal some facts which throw a new light on the relationships of the Californian forms ascribed to the genus Taricha.