148 SALAMANDRADiE. 



" During the latter part of the month of August of the 

 present year (1848) I kept a little male newt — Lissotriton 

 punctatus — in a basin of clear water, quite alone. 



" The markings of the skin of the newt at this time 

 were bright and distinct, and the dorsal crest was deep. 

 At eight o'clock, on the morning of the 3 Oth, I noticed 

 that it was particularly dull and would scarcely move on 

 being touched, and I feared that it was going to die from 

 its confinement and want of food : it was very thin, but 

 its epidermic covering had undergone no change, and its 

 summer dress was as bright as ever. Upon again looking 

 at the little animal at eleven o'clock, I found that it had 

 assumed the colours and form of the newt in the winter, 

 approximating those of the female, and in the water its 

 entire exuvium was floating about so thin and trans- 

 lucent as to look a mere film, but still quite perfect, ex- 

 cepting the fissure by which the body had emerged. 



" The newt was now of a brown colour and the black 



spots on its surface less distinct ; the dorsal crest, which 



before was deep, was merely represented by a ridge, and 



the tail had diminished by one-third of its vertical depth, 



this decrease being principally on its dorsal surface. The 



integument was very thin, the cutaneous blood-vessels 



being quite apparent through it. It was very active and 



swam about the basin with renewed life and vigour. The 



slough was a perfect cast of the whole body, limbs and 



tail ; it was quite entire and not torn or broken in any 



part, excepting that it had been split straight down the 



middle line on the ventral surface, from the symphysis of 



the lower jaw to the point of the tail, and had thus simply 



peeled off the body, beginning from the belly and passing 



off the sides and then from the back taking away the 



dorsal crest. It is remarkable that there was no fissure or 



