71 



SALAMANDRA FASCIATA.— Greew. 



Plate XXIII. 



Characters. Head short, broad; snout large and rounded; body and tail 

 above palest ash-colour, with irregular transverse bluish-black blotches on the 

 back, and bars on the tail; throat and abdomen indigo-blue, tinged with purple; 

 tail length of body, and compressed laterally. 



SrNONYMES. Salamandra fasciata, Green, Jour. Acad. Nat. Scien. Philad., vol. i. p. 350. 

 Salamandra fasciata, Harlem, Med. and Phys. Res., p. 94. 



Description. The head is large, short, broad, thick, and rounded in front. 

 The tongue is sub-oval, elongated, thin at the margins, attached behind, and 

 movable at all other margins, less so in front. The palate is armed with a trans- 

 verse series of minute teeth, arranged in three groups; the two external are 

 behind the posterior nares; the central and larger group occupies transversely 

 the middle of the palate. 



The nostrils are latero-superior, and nearer the snout than the orbit. The 

 eyes are very prominent, with the pupil black and the iris of darkest grey. 



The neck is but slightly contracted, with a well marked transverse cutaneous 

 fold at the throat. The body is sub-cylindrical, a little compressed, and covered 

 with a smooth skin. The tail is thick, rounded on its superior and inferior 

 margins, though compressed laterally. 



The anterior extremities are short and rather stout, with four fingers, distinct; 



