28 APPENDIX : NO. XXV. 
The specimens of the Triton palmipes of Daudin which Mr. Bell 
first received he named “ provisionally ” Lissotriton appendiculatus, 
believing them to be a new species, until in a consultation with 
Mr. Gray, he was induced to consider them a variety of punctatus, 
an opinion which the gradual disappearance of the most obvious 
characters in confinement encouraged him to continue to indulge, 
and it was not until he received a notice of my Newts three years 
afterwards that the ‘ question was reopened ” with him ; but when 
he saw some of them he at once confirmed the opimion I had 
ventured to express to him that they were a_ species hitherto 
undescribed in Britain, and by so doing he asserted the value of his 
first impressions as communicated to Mr. Baker in 1845 (Zool. 2198). 
Mr. Gray’s Triton vittatus (Bell’s Brit. Rept. p. 132) appears not 
to be the 7. palmipes of Daudin, yet the semipalmation of the hind 
feet agrees with the condition of T. palmipes, Daudin, whilst the 
caudal filament is being absorbed. The “tail pieces”’ (Zool. 2231) 
admirably illustrate the most striking differences of the two kinds of 
Newt. 
In a full description there are many other points to be noticed 
than those hitherto mentioned: one that might be overlooked I will 
name here, viz. the colour (as well as certain of the proportions 
previously alluded to) of the bones; they are, | believe, more yellow in 
palmipes than in punctatus. The difference in size of the two Newts 
does not appear to me so very marked as M. Deby would indicate, except 
in moor-land, where, as far as I have observed, pa/mipes is smaller 
than elsewhere, and less bright and distinct in colour and markings, 
and with its vernalia (we want a proper word) less developed. 
M. Deby’s parallel tables are very useful, and put the matter in a 
clear light; if he had added a description of 7. alpestris it would 
have conferred an additional obligation on those of us who have a 
difficulty in meeting with the works of the continental [h]erpetologists. 
The females of 7. palnipes, Daudin, have not yet been described in 
the ‘Zoologist.’. When compared with the females of 7. punctatus, 
their heads seem broader and shorter, and the toes of their hind 
feet are for the most part shorter ; the males also have the former, but 
not so evidently the latter character. As to the colour, if in a genial 
situation, the body is usually a delicate milk-and-water white, tinged 
more or less with yellow towards the middle line; the back and 
sides of the body and tail are of a dark olive-green, and in some, 
particularly very large specimens, are beautifully mottled by a net- 
work of lighter colour. In moor-land the skin becomes harsh, and 
coloured more like the females of the Common Newt, sometimes 
even to the orange belly. 
The several longitudinal bands of colour, and the bright and 
tessellated markings of the full-dressed male, I leave to abler pens to 
describe ; but I may record that I found one specimen, the only one 
I had from the pond in which it was (and I mention the last fact 
because, like other animals, especially aquatic, 1t seems subject tu 
local variety), whose tail is covered with minute spots between the 
