PALMATED NEWT IN CHESHIRE. 
CHARLES OLDHAM. 
BYERLEY, in his Fauna of Liverpool, records three specimens of this 
newt, which were taken by his children in a stream at Upton in 
1851. So far as I know there is no other Cheshire record. The two 
common species, Zriton cristatus and Lophinus punctatus are plenti- 
ful throughout the county in ditches and ponds, particularly those 
near brickfields, but Z. palmatus appears to be rare. In May 1894 
Mr. T. A. Coward and I hunted in vain for two or three days for 
specimens in ponds near Parkgate and West Kirby, which are in the 
same neighbourhood as Byerley’s locality; and I have examined 
scores of ponds and ditches in mid-Cheshire with as little success. 
On June 13th, however, I was fortunate enough to capture two 
females in a pond near Romiley station, and am not without hope 
that further search may result in the finding of other specimens in 
this neighbourhood. 
It may be of interest to readers of ‘The Naturalist’ to give 
details of ie rough experiments I made on the chameleonic and 
protective colour changes in this species. 
When taken from the pond on the evening of June 13th, one of 
the newts (a), which was resting on black mud, was dark green, and 
the markings on the skin were hardly discernible ; the other (2) was 
pale greenish yellow, and clearly showed the characteristic marblings 
of dark green: it approximated roughly to the colour of the yellow 
clay at the bottom of the pond. On reaching home at 8 p.m. 
I placed both newts in water in a glass dish standing on a white 
plate. At 8 a.m. on the 14th both were much paler, a being almost 
as light as 46. At 7 p.m. the colours of both were identical. I then 
transferred 4 to a dish standing on black cloth. At 1.45 p.m. on the 
15th it had become even darker in hue than a was when taken from 
the pond ; at 5.30 p.m. the colour had further deepened. I then 
restored 4 to the dish on the white plate and placed a in the dish on 
the black cloth. At 8.10 p.m. 4 was noticeably lighter than a, and 
by 9 a.m. on the 16th the position was exactly reversed from what it 
Was at 5.30 p.m. the day before ; that is to say, a was now at the 
darkest and 4 at the lightest pitch. I then placed both in the dish 
on the white plate, and the dark @ quickly changed colour, being at 
© a.m. scarcely deeper in hue than 4. At 1 p.m. the two were 
andisdnguasbabl except in size. ‘The changes were only noticeable 
in the colour of the dorsal surface ; the light ventral surface, which 
is unexposed to the view of enemies in the newt’s natural state, 
remaining unchanged. 
July 1895 
