81 



TRITON NIGER.— Green. 



Plate XXVII. 



Characters. Body above black; abdomen purplish, with a few white spots; 

 tail round at base, flattened and ancipital at tip. 



Stnonymes. Salamandra nigra, Green, Jour. Acad. Nat. Scien. Philad., vol. i. p. 352. 

 Salamandra intermixta, Green, Maclurian Lyceum, p. 5. 

 Salamandra picta, Harlan, Med. and Phys. Res., p. 98. 

 Salamandra nigra, Harlan, Med. and Phys. Res., p. 97. 



Description. The head is small, with the snout rather pointed. The mouth 

 is of moderate size. The tongue is sub-oval, thin, broadest behind, narrow and 

 adherent in front, loose and most movable at its posterior margin. The palate is 

 armed with a transverse group of minute teeth, and others are placed in a 

 longitudinal direction along the mesial line. 



The nostrils are small and latero-superior. The eyes are prominent, with a 

 black pupil and dusky-grey iris. The neck is slightly contracted, and has a large 

 transverse fold at the throat. 



The body is stout and sub-cylindrical; the tail is thick and round at the root, 

 but it soon becomes compressed, and is ancipital near the tip, which is pointed. 



The anterior extremities are short, and sustain four fingers; the posterior are 

 much larger, and terminate in five toes, slightly united at their bases. 



