8450 



Reptiles — Fishes. 



differs considerably from my living examples, being much shorter and thicker, and 

 with smaller and fewer yellow spots. The large head and obtuse muzzle well account 

 for the specific name. The Triton alpestris I detected in a mountain stream of great 

 coldness in the region of rhododendrons on the Pic Aubiste, Pyrenees. This animal, 

 I am sorry to say, escaped from the vessel in which it was confined, and I had no 

 opportunity of closely observing it. Our own species are confined to pools of still 

 water, but in the South of Europe, where ponds of fresh water are scarce, the species 

 seem to frequent running streams. Such was the case in Corsica, where I observed 

 the larvae of a Lissotriton (Lophinus) in some numbers in this situation. The perfect 

 animal occurred on the ground in forests. To return to the principal subject of this 

 communication: the organs and tissues concerned in generation are, in the case of the 

 Urodela, concealed in both sexes within the cavity of the abdomen. It is not there- 

 fore easy to discriminate the sexes, in the absence of a crest and of differences of 

 colour. The male of Triton cristatus closely resembles the female in winter time, 

 when the dorsal crest has been absorbed. Nevertheless, the relative proportions of the 

 tail and body afford a safe diagnosis. In the smaller newts (Lophinus) the persistent 

 differences of colour in adult animals are sufficient to separate them. But I am 

 ignorant of any differentiae by which to discriminate the sexes of Salamandra. The 

 insertion of this communication in the 'Zoologist' may perhaps elicit some informa- 

 tion from those acquainted with Herpetology, and I shall be happy to communicate 

 the results (if any) of my proposed attempt to breed young Salamanders. — T. A. 

 Marshall; 2, Vittoria Walk, Cheltenham, January 16, 1863. 



Distinctive Character of Reptiles. — It has often struck me as remarkable that neither 

 Linneus, Cuvier, De Blainville, Geofftoy St. Hilaire, nor Agassiz, have noticed the 

 simple and obvious external distinguishing character of reptiles ; the epidermis or 

 outer skin of quadrupeds is clothed with hair, of birds with feathers, of fishes with 

 scales, but in reptiles it is uncovered, perfectly naked. It is not extraordinary that 

 our natural-history bookmakers, having no practical knowledge of the subject, should 

 have overlooked so 'vital an omission, but it is extraordinary that the men whose names 

 I have enumerated above, each one of whom thought for himself, failed to observe so 

 important a diagnostic. When, in 1856, I published my little treatise on the ' Physi- 

 ological Classification of Animals,' I had no idea that the external or structural pecu- 

 liarity of reptiles remained unnoticed. This omission is not simply such ; it is accom- 

 panied by many positive errors ; thus, Menem and others have a reptilian order 

 squamata, and Cuvier repeatedly uses the word ecailles in describing the covering of 

 snakes and lizards. The processes in question, whether described as squama or ecailles, 

 are projections, folds, or rugosities of the under-skin ; and are not deciduous, like 

 hairs, feathers and scales, but are as permanent and durable as the bones themselves. 

 This may be seen when the slough of a snake is found. This slough is continuous, 

 and contains a faithful mould of each of these processes ; it is a very beautiful and 

 very instructive object. The tortoise exhibits the peculiarity of an articulated skin, 

 the articulation being clearly discernible in the living animal, but becoming more 

 conspicuous after death, when dehiscence takes place, and the plates fall off, perfectly 

 detached from each other. — Edward Newman. 



Walking Fish. — A correspondent in Province Wellesley informs us that while 

 passing along, during a shower of rain, the wide sandy plain which bounds the sea 



