Prof. Owen on a new species of Axolotl. 23 



VII. — Characters of a new Species of Axolotl. 

 By Prof. Owen, F.R.S. 



Genus Axolotes*. 

 Gyrinus, Shaw ; Phyllhydrus, Brooks ; Siredon, Wagler ; Axolotl, 

 Humboldt and Cuvier. 



Sp. 1. guttata. A. fusca, nigro-guttata, capite antice rotundato, 

 cauda compresso-lanceolata. 



Shaw, Nat. Misc. no. 343, Gyrinus mexicanus ; Gen. Zool. iii. 

 p. 612. pi. 140, Siren pis ciformis. 



Humboldt and Cuvier, Voyage de Humboldt, Zoologie, 2 eme partie, 

 Reptiles douteux, p. 109. pi. 1 2, Axolotl du Mexique. 



Home, Phil. Trans. 1824, p. 419. pi. 22 and 23, Mexican Proteus. 



Wagler, Icones Amphib. tab. 20, Siredon Axolotl. 



Longitudo 7 unc. ad 14 unc. 



Hab. In lacu juxta urbem Mexico. 



Sp. 2. maculata. A. grisea, nigro-marmorata, subtus lac tea, capite 



antice truncato, cauda compresso-rotundata. 



Longitudo 3 unc. ad 5 unc. 



Hab. In Mexico, in fluviis Sierra Madre, Chihuahua, lat. 26° 6' N., 

 long. 106° 50' W. 



Axolotes maculata, nat. size. 



VIII. — On Ova believed to be those of the Large Spotted Dog-fish, 

 Scyllium Catulus, Linn. (sp.). 



About the middle of the month of December last, there were sent to 

 the Belfast Museum two plants of the tangle (Laminaria digitata), 



* This rendering of the Mexican word, first applied generically by Cuvier, 

 has long been adopted by Mayer and other German anatomists : the word 

 is inflected according to the third declension — Axolotes, is, em, ibus. The 

 characters of the first known species, for which the trivial names ' mexicana ' 

 and ' pisciformis ' have ceased to be distinctive, are prefixed to render those 

 of the second species more intelligible. 



