150 The Microscope. 



The name lissotriton, or smooth, newt, has been 

 given to this species, to distinguish it from a larger 

 one called triton, which has a rough skin. The lisso- 

 triton is a beautiful and harmless little creature. When 

 full grown it is about three inches long. The male and 

 female are curiously dissimilar. The former is spotted 

 like a trout, and during the spring and summer 

 possesses a handsome keel-like crest along its back, 

 and a broad tail, both of which shrink considerably in 

 the autumn. Its underside is tinged with orange, and 

 altogether it is a great beauty among the amphibia ; 

 whereas its mate is brown and unornamented, except 

 by two narrow lines of gold colour, bordered with 

 black. I describe them from drawings made some 

 years ago on the 26th and 27th of March. 



The young smooth newt retains its external bran- 

 chiae to a much greater period than is the case with 

 the frog-tadpole ; although it would seem, from what 

 I have observed, and also from Professor BelPs 

 remarks on this subject, that there is a great variety 

 in the period at which the branchiae disappear in this 

 species. I have, however, constantly met these young 

 newts when nearly two inches in length, still possess- 

 ing these beautiful appendages, which, instead of being 

 pale, as at first, appear of a fine chestnut-orange 

 colour ; but they have lost much of their early trans- 

 parency, and therefore for microscopic observation the 

 newts answer best when of a smaller size. The great 

 size of the corpuscles, as compared with the size of tho 

 animal, makes the object exceedingly striking. They 

 are oval, like those of the frog, but larger, being (in 



