PALMATED SMOOTH-NEWT. 157 



scarcely broader than in L. punctatus in the full season ; 

 the tail is not much more than half the depth, and termin- 

 ating rather abruptly, and is furnished at its extremity with 

 a small filament, which varies in length from two to four 

 lines ; and in the female dwindles to a mere mucronation. 

 The colours of the back and sides are more clear and bright, 

 although generally darker. The spots are more numerous 

 and often confluent ; and the tail has two distinct longitu- 

 dinal fascise of spots, with occasionally a few between 

 them ; but the inferior margin is invariably and distinctly 

 pale and immediate. The female is ordinarily paler than 

 the male ; but the spots on the tail are in general more 

 numerous, smaller, and disposed to become confluent. 



This interesting species has now been found in very 

 various localities. Mr. Wolley has the following interest- 

 ing note in the Zoologist, of its extreme northern habi- 

 tat : " I have to report the existence of our recently 

 ascertained Newt, in the extreme north of the island. On 

 the 1st of August I found several females and one male in 

 a little fresh-water peaty pool, a few hundred yards from 

 high-water mark, on the side of the hills which rise from 

 Loch Eribol, and on the west side of the loch. It is an 

 inlet of the sea, about sixteen miles to the east of Cape 

 Wrath, in the north coast of Sutherland." The same 

 gentleman had previously recorded its existence in the 

 neighbourhood of Edinburgh. In England, in addition to 

 the first recorded locality in which it was discovered by 

 Mr. Baker ; my relative, Mr. James Salter, found it plen- 

 tiful in a pond near Ryde, in the Isle of Wight, from 

 whence I have since received numerous specimens from 

 Dr. Bell Salter, of that place, who obtained them from a 

 pond at Brading ; and the former gentleman has informed 

 me that he has found it in tolerable plenty "in a pond 



