Reptiles and Batrachians of the Edinburgh District. 521 
The weights of a few examples are— 
Males,—2°15, 2°07, 1°75, and 1°75 grammes. 
Females, —3°48, 2°8, 2°75, 2°32, 2:18, and 1°58 grammes. 
Three hundred and twenty-six ripe ova were taken from 
one female. 
Moice Patmata (Schneid.). PALMATED NEWT. 
It is now close on half a century since John Wolley, the 
well-known ornithologist, found this Newt in abundance in 
the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, and by his note in the 
Zoologist was the means of the species being for the first 
time clearly recognised as a native of Britain. This was in 
1848. 
Wolley’s communication to the Zoolegist (p. 2149) is so 
interesting, and sets forth the salient characters of the adult 
male in spring so clearly, that I do not hesitate to quote it 
in full. It runs thus: “A kind of Newt occurs in ponds 
and ditches about Edinburgh which I have not observed 
elsewhere. The males are remarkable for a ridge on each 
side of their back, which gives it great breadth and square- 
ness, for their wholly-webbed feet, and for the mode in 
which their tail terminates: it appears as if the tip had been 
nipped off, the central filament of it only remaining, and 
projecting for a quarter of an inch. In colour and style of 
marking it differs considerably from Lissotriten punctatus of 
Bell. The females are less easy to recognise. There appear 
to be characteristic differences in the bones of the two species, 
at least in the vertebrz and the skull, also in the general 
proportions of the head, body, and tail. The males do not 
vary much from one another: I have examined upwards of 
one hundred of them, but as yet only in their spring appear- 
ance. The webs of the feet, the catidal filament, the crests, 
and the dorsal ridges are probably absorbed later in the year, 
as I judge from the degrees of development I have already 
seen, and especially from a Newt of this kind I found in the 
bed of a pool which had been dried up some days before. It 
occurs in company with L, punctatus, but in one ditch I 
found it alone and in plenty, from which I have been able 
