2664 



olive in color, with darker spots, larger and more rounded in the male than in the 

 female; the head is marked with five longitudinal dark streaks; the under parts are 

 yellowish, with a median orange or reddish zone, and marked with black spots in 

 the male, and dots of the same in the female. In the latter the lower edge of the 

 tail is uniformly orange, whereas in the male it is red, bordered with blue and 

 interrupted by vertical black bars. 



The last of the European species we can notice at length is the 



webbed newt (M. palmata) distinguished from all the preceding by 



the bony fronto-squamosal arch to the skull, and likewise by the webbed hind-toes of 



the male. This is the smallest species yet noticed, its length not exceeding three 



MALE AND FEMALE OF COMMON NEWT. 



(Natural size.) 



inches. The color of the upper parts is brown or olive, with small dark spots on 

 the body and longitudinal streaks on the head. In the male there are also minute 

 brown speckles on the head; and the dorsal, as well as the upper part of the caudal 

 crest, together with the hind-feet are blackish. Except for a median orange zone, 

 the under surface is uncolored, although there may be a few small blackish dots; 

 there are a series of spots along the upper and lower borders of the tail, and the 

 crest on its lower surface is orange in the female and bluish gray in the male. 

 The webbed newt has been recorded from Britain, France, Belgium, Holland, 

 Switzerland, Western Germany, and the North of Spain. 



With the exception of the banded newt (ftf. vittata) of Asia Minor 



and Syria, distinguished by the presence of a black band along each 



side of the body, all the other members of the genus are devoid of a crest along the 



