I II 



2. Pyronicm punctata. 



Triton punctata*, Duges;/.e.t. I. f. 25, 26; Bi II, Brit. Rept. ed. 2. 

 Triton lama, Higginbottom, Ann. & Mag. N. H. xii. 380 t 16 



f. C, 7. 



Liaaotriton punctata* and L. palmatua. Bell, Brit. Real ed 1 

 1839 (not Latr.). 



Pupils cin-ular, rather larger than those of '/'. criatafua. 



The figures of the Smooth Newts {Liaaotriton) in Mr. Bell's 

 | British Reptiles' (1839) nrc so destitute of character, thai il in 

 impossible to refer them to the known species with certainty. The 

 figures of L. punctata* at pp. 132 and 135, appear to be thai ip 

 in its winter state j and the figures of£. palmipe* at p. 139 appear 

 to he intended tor the same Bpecies in Bummer, if we regard the dis- 

 position of the spots, and the height of the dorsal fin: bnl the fin 

 i- not dentated as it always is in that species, and the toes are 

 not proper for it in its crested state ; ar the aame time it bean no 

 resemblance to the true T. palmatu*, which has an entire ores! : 

 nor has it the filament at the end of the tail, which is always found 

 in the crested form of that species. 



In the second edition (1849), Mr. Bell has referred all these 

 figures to Lissotriton punctata*, and places the figure which he for- 

 merly called L. palmatu* at the head of the species, p. 1 1.5 ; hut 

 it is not characteristic of it, as wanting the dentation on the crest 

 and the broad rounded end fringe of the toes, which arc so charac- 

 teristic of the crested state of the species. 



Mr. Bell, believing that the form of the upper lip afforde I a g 

 character for the distinction of the species of these animals, divides 

 them into two Bpecies, thus — <k 1. Liaaotriton punctata*, upper lip 

 straight, not overhanging the lower (p. 132, 138, fig. 2). LUaotriton 

 palmipea, upper lip pendulous at the Bides, overhanging the under 

 in a distinct festoon as far as the base of the lower jaw. To • 

 hinder feet fringed with a short membrane at all I may 



observe thai the latter is not the T. palmipe* of Latreille, which 

 has the hind feet of the male in the breeding-season webbed; and 

 th.it I believe it only differs from the former by being in the fully- 

 developed State at the season of reproduction; and I am home OUl 

 in this idea by tin; observations of M jsre. Higginbottom, II 



and many other-. 



The former observes i " Some Triton* have been distinguished by 

 the upper Up overhanging the lower. I bave observed that in the 

 first \ ear of Triton aeper the upper lip oi erhangs the under consider- 

 ably at the sides ; in the -ee. nid it overhangs less; between tl, 

 condand third year it becomes straighter, and in the fourth it over- 

 hangs again as much a- in the first year. This i n evident 



in the Triton fame, in which the -amc change- take place. 1 / 



,V Mag. .V. //. 185 I, vi. 



" Neither kind of I I iu the water dari |g the winter 



months; hut they (the brick-makers) discoi 



