130 SALAMANDRADiE. 



If an instance were wanting to exemplify the obvious 

 fallacy of the opinion that external form is alone sufficient 

 to indicate the relations of animals, it would be impossible 

 to select one more striking and remarkable than that of the 

 tailed Amphibia ; and it is certainly not a little extraordi- 

 nary that Linnaeus himself, notwithstanding the acuteness 

 which generally enabled him to pierce through the fal- 

 lacious indications offered by external appearance, and to 

 seize upon the true relations of individuals and groups 

 without being misled, like most others of his day, by form 

 alone, should in this instance have failed to detect the 

 latent affinities of the group, and to appreciate the relative 

 value of its characters. A want of more accurate know- 

 ledge, or, perhaps, a degree of timidity arising from the 

 novelty of the position which he took, prevented this great 

 man from always following out the principles which his 

 genius impelled him to adopt, and doubtless led him to 

 the inconsistencies with which he has been too severely and 

 indiscriminately charged. Be that as it may, he certainly, 

 in the present instance, not only searched not below the 

 surface, but failed even to appreciate the importance of the 

 character of the skin itself; a reference to which, and to 

 several peculiarities in external structure, might have led 

 him to suspect, at least, the relations which this part bears 

 to that of the tailless Amphibia, and especially of the Frogs. 



The generic form to which the present species belongs, 

 exhibits all the characters of the Amphibia in as striking a 

 point of view as either of those which have been already 

 mentioned. The naked and respirable skin, and the com- 

 pleteness of the transformation, are not less obvious in the 

 present than in the former group. The whole of them are 

 characterised also by an elongated body, by the existence 

 of four legs, and by an aquatic life. 



