REPTILES OF DORSET. 101 



but they used to come out at night from the water and wander ahuut 

 until confined by a perforated zinc cover to the tank. They 

 are very handsome objects wlien swimming in the bright clear 

 water among the water Aveeds and artificial rockwork. 



LissoTRiTON PUNCTATUS, Dum. et Bib. 



Smooth Newt. Bell's British Reptiles, p. 143. 



The smooth Newt is smaller, and though brightly and prettily 

 spotted is paler in colour and by no means so showy a species as the 

 Crested I'J'ewt. Its skin is also smooth ; not tuberculous like that 

 of the Crested Newt. This is the species usually, I believe, known 

 as the Eft, or Evet. j\Ir. Bell (British Reptiles) gives some very 

 interesting notes on the ecdysis, or change of skin, iu this species 

 from the observations of my oM friend, Mr. James Salter, IM.D., 

 F.R.S., &c. The length of the Smooth Newt is not quite four 

 inches, and it is variable in the depth and colour of its markings. 

 It is abundant iu ponds and watery ditches at Bloxworth and 

 in other parts of the county. 



LISSOTRITON PALMATUS, Dum. et Bib. 



Palmated Smooth Newt. Bell's British Reptiles, p. 154. 



This is the smallest of our three indigenous species, measuring 

 only about two to two and a-half inches in length. The male 

 is easily recognized by the palmation of the hinder feet (which is 

 greater, however, in summer than in winter), and by a thread- 

 like elongation at the extremity of a slightly truncated tail 

 looking as if the tip of the tail had been laid hold of 

 and the animal had escaped, leaving tlie llcshy portion iu 

 the fingers, and so apparently reduced the tail at that point to a 

 slender stem of vertebrce. The female has little or no similar 

 elongation. It is a pretty little species, though generally less 

 strongly marked than L. picnrtatm. It is not rare in puols on 

 Bloxworth Heath, and was first discovered in this cnur.ty nrar 

 I'oole, in a pond Ijctwecn Constitution Hill and Kinson many 

 years ago by the late Dr. Bell-Saltcr. It has been found in a 



