PAPERS, ETC. 133 
up to the year 1843. The first discovery of the Zisso- 
triton palmipes was made by the late lamented Mr. Baker, 
of Bridgwater. Since then the same species has been 
found near Edinburgh, and still farther north; also at 
Ryde in the Isle of Wight, and near Poole, in Dorsetshire. 
The prineipal distinetions, according to Professor Bell, 
between this and the more common species are, that in the 
male, the hinder feet are palmate, the toes being connected 
by a web, which, however, in the winter, becomes a mere 
fringe, and the tail, which terminates abruptly, is furnished 
at its extremity with a small filament, which in the male 
varies in length from two to four inches, and in the female 
dwindles to a mere mucronation. 
In botany, I have observed the Ornithogalum umbella- 
tum, or star of Bethlehem, in great plenty, in a corn-field, 
at Stoke St. Mary. I am not aware that it occurs any- 
where else in this part of Somersetshire, but I find that 
Mr. Watson, in his Cybele Britannica, regards it as an in- 
troduced plant wherever it occurs in this country. I have 
also gathered the Lathyrus sylvestris, or narrow leaved 
everlasting pea, at Stoke; and the Anagallis cerulea, or blue 
pimpernell. The range of both these plants being limited, 
I consider their occurrence worthy of record; botanists 
have not yet decided whether the scarlet and blue pimper- 
nell are distinet species, and Mr. Borrer has suggested that 
the discerepancies which occur may be resolved by con- 
sidering them as distinet, and that each species varies with 
red and blue flowers. 
If we could but induce the members of the Society to 
note down whatever they may observe in Natural History, 
and communicate it to the secretaries, or write a statement 
of it themselves, we might hope to arrive in time at a 
complete Natural History of Somersetshire. 
