BATRACHIA. 87 



chaplets; the young are not hatched until the fifteenth day, and re- 

 tain their branchiae for a longer or shorter time according to the 

 species. Modern observers have recognized several of them in 

 France, but as the colour of these animals changes according to the 

 age, sex and season of the year, and as the crests and other orna- 

 ments of the males are only well developed in the spring, the species 

 have not been determined vi^ith certainty. When winter surprises 

 them with their branchiae, they retain them till the following year, 

 always increasing in size.(l) 



"S". marmorata, Latr.; Triton Gesneri^ Laur. Skin, granu- 

 lated ; pale green above, with large irregular brown spotsj 

 broAvn, dotted with white beneath; a red line along the back, 

 which, in the male, is slightly crested and marked with black 

 spots. But slightly aquatic. 



'S'. alpestris; Salam. a flancs tachet'es^ Bechst. tr. Lac. pi. xx. 

 Skin granulated; slate coloured and brown above; orange or 

 red belly; a band of numerous small black spots on each flank. 



S. cristata, Latr. Skin, granulated; brown above, with round 

 blackish spots; orange beneath, similarly spotted; sides dotted 

 with white; crest of the male elevated, acutely denticulate, and 

 in the nuptial season edged with violet. 



S. punctata, Latr. Skin, smooth; a light brown above; pale 

 or red beneath; round black spots every where; black streaks 

 on the head; crest of the male festooned; the toes somewhat 

 widened, but not palmate. 



S. palmata, Latr. Back brown; top of the head vermiculated 

 with brown and blackish; paler on the flanks, with round black- 

 ish spots; belly immaculate. The male has three small dorsal 

 crests; toes dilated and united by membranes, and the tail ter- 

 minated by a small filament.(2) 

 Several aquatic Salamanders are also found in North America.(3) 

 Skeletons of a Salamander three feet in length have been disco- 

 vered among the schist of CEningen. One of them is the pretended 

 Fossil Man of Scheucher. 



(1) It was from an individual which had thus retained its branchiae that 'Lau- 

 renti made his Proteus trUonius. 



(2) The characters of the European species appear to me to be such as are 

 most conformable to nature; to add the synonymes of authors would be a difficult 

 task, so little do their figures and descriptions agree with the animals before me. 



(3) Sal. symmetrica, Harl. which appears to me previously represented in 

 Bechstein's Lacep. II, pi. xviii, f. 2, under the name of Sal. punctata,- and several 

 species whose descriptions I could not recognize, and which richly merit a mono- 

 graph, accompanied by good figures. 



