122 URODELA chap. 



the long tail, which is compressed at the end. The skin is smooth 

 and shiny, with a gular fold and large parotoids. The general 

 colour is a rich dark brown, with a pair of broad reddish-golden 

 bands along the back and tail, the bands being separated by an 

 almost black vertebral line. 



The few specimens which I have been lucky enough to 

 observe made little holes or passages in the moist moss of their 

 cage, peeping out with their heads in wait for little insects, 

 which they caught with flash-like quickness. They seem to be 

 crepuscular. 



Scdamandrina perspicillata. — This genus, represented by one 

 species, a native of Liguria and Xorthern Italy, possibly extend- 

 ing into Dalmatia, is the only Salamander which has but four 

 toes. The skin is not shiny and smooth, but is finely granular 

 and dry, forms no gular fold, and is devoid of parotoid 

 glands. The tail is more than half the length of the animal, 

 which measures from 3 to 4 inches. The general colour is 

 black -brown with a broad V-shaped orange - yellow mark 

 extending from eye to eye over the occiput. A faint irregular 

 yellowish line extends along the middle of the back and tail. 

 The throat is black, with a diffused white patch in the middle ; 

 the belly is white, with black dots ; the anal region, the inner 

 sides of the legs and the under side of the tail are cai-mine-red. 



This slender and pretty Salamander is diurnal, and feigns death 

 when discovered. Only the female goes into the water, in March, 

 to glue the eggs on to submerged rocks or water-plants. The 

 young finish their metamorphosis by the month of June, and 

 reach full size during the winter, the climate of their home 

 being sufficiently genial to make hibernation scarcely necessary. 



Triton s. Molge. — The tail is strongly compressed and 

 frequently has a permanent fin. The fronto- squamosal arch is 

 variable, it being either bony as in the South European, Eastern 

 and American species, or reduced to a ligament, or lastly absent 

 as in 2'. cristatus. The males of all the English Newts, of T. 

 vittatas and of T. marmoratus, develop a high cutaneous crest 

 on the back and tail during the breeding season, and this crest 

 acts not only as a swimming organ and ornament, but also as 

 a sensory organ. 



The whole genus comprises some eighteen species, twelve of 

 which are European, although some of these extend into Western 



