COMMON SMOOTH NEWT. 133 



Lacerta maculata, Siiepp. in Linn. Trans. VII. p. 53. Turton, Brit. 



Faun. p. 79. 

 Satainandra punctata, Daud. Rept. VIII. p. 267. Latr. Salam. de France, 



p. 53, sp. 6, t. vi. f. 6. 

 ? Triton Palustris, Laur. Spec. Med. pp. 39. 145, t. iv. f. 2. 

 ,, aquaticus, Flem. Brit. Anim. p. 158, sp. 7. 

 ,, punctatus, Fitzing. Nat. Class. Rept. p. 66, sp. 8. Bonap.Icod. 



Faun. Ital. Jenvns, Brit. Veit. p. 304. 

 Molge punctata, Merr. Syst. Amph. p. 186, sp. 4. 



Brown Lizard, Penn. Brit. Zool. III. p. 23, t. ii. 



The size of this small and common species would distin- 

 guish it at once from the former in its adult state, and from 

 younger individuals it may be readily known by the difference 

 of colour, and the absence of all warts and tubercles on the 

 skin, which is, indeed, almost as smooth as that of the 

 Froof. This latter character has led me to believe that the 

 two forms might with great propriety be considered as gene- 

 rically distinct, upon the same principle as that which has led 

 to the separation of the Toads from the Frogs ; although it 

 must be confessed that, in the latter case, the habits of the 

 two groups offer a much greater discrepancy, the relations 

 between the Frogs and Toads presenting rather an analogy 

 with that between the smooth Newts and the true or ter- 

 restrial Salamanders. Thus a tolerably continuous chain of 

 affinity may be traced from the Smooth New^ts, through the 

 tuberculated New^ts, and the Geotritons of the Prince of 

 Musignano, to the true terrestrial form of the Salamanders, 

 which last are even more strikingly characterized by a tuber- 

 culated and porous skin than either of the other forms. The 

 separation of the present animals from the genus Salamandra 

 was an essential step, for which we are indebted to Laurenti, 

 although there may be some objection to the name Triton, 

 which he applied to them, on account of its having been al- 

 ready assigned by Linneeus to the inhabitants of certain 

 shells. As, however, the principle upon Avhich he did this, — 

 namely, the adoption of a distinct nomenclature for the 



