XCV111 



PROLEGOMENA 



the Lakeland list; since it turns out that the gentleman on 

 whose authority the reputation of the reputed Cumbrian 

 specimen depended, is the owner of a treacherous memory, and 

 cannot be implicitly relied upon. 

 Reptiles. The Reptiles of Lakeland are too few to call for much 



criticism, but attention may be drawn to the local distribution 

 of the Ringed Snake (Tropidonotus natrix). This species, so 

 abundantly represented in southern England, is fairly numerous 

 in certain of the woods in the Lancastrian portion of Lakeland ; 

 nevertheless, it becomes extremely uncommon to the north of 

 the Lake mountains, which appear to have offered a barrier to 

 its travelling into the Cumbrian plain from the south-west. 

 Amphibians. Two species of Newts have been included in the text of this 

 work. I am thankful to add that the Palmated Newt (Triton 

 palmipes) is also present. It appears to be so rare, or at least so 

 local, that its existence in our midst was only ascertained at the 

 eleventh hour. On the 15th of June 1892, a young lad named 

 R. M. Dixon invited me to inspect ' two efts and a minnow ' 

 which he had just caught in a pool near Carlisle. The * minnow ' 

 was an eleven-spined variety of Gasterosteus pungitius. In the 

 1 efts,' I was delighted to recognise my old favourite, Triton 

 palmipes, male and female. Mr. C. A. Witchell, of Stroud, most 

 kindly sent me two pairs of Palmate Newts to compare with 

 the first examples of this pretty little species obtained in Lake- 

 land. The specimens agreed in all the external characters, but 

 the Carlisle specimens were the largest and the brightest in 

 colour. It will be noticed that care has been taken to prove 

 that the Natterjack Toad (Bufo calamita) exists locally in 

 Westmorland and Furness, as well as in Cumberland. 

 Fishes. The exploration of a marine fauna cannot be adequately 



conducted by a naturalist residing forty miles from the open 

 ocean; but so far as circumstances have permitted me to in- 

 vestigate our fish fauna, the results are not entirely discourag- 

 ing. 1 For example, the occurrence of Scicena aquila, Orcynus 

 germo, and Thynnus pelamys upon any part of the British coasts 

 would be worth chronicling ; in the present instance, the facts 

 possess a value of their own, as materially extending the dis- 

 1 The fishes of Lakeland are represented by 97 species. 



