49 



REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS 

 OF THE SKELMANTHORPE DISTRICT. 



FRED LAWTON, 



Skelmanthorpe , Huddersfield. 



Our district is the well-wooded, well-watered area that lies 

 within a radius of four miles round Skelmanthorpe. Within 

 that area are to be found the following- townships : — Skelman- 

 thorpe, Shelley, Shepley, Kirkburton, Emley, Flockton, Bretton, 

 High Hoyland, Clayton West, Cawthorne, Gunthwaite, Ing- 

 birchworth. Denby, and Cumbervvorth. There are Bretton, 

 Cannon Hall, Bagden, Gunthwaite, Storthes Hall, and Rock- 

 wood Parks, with their fine lakes and large woods. There are 

 innumerable streamlets, rippling through well-wooded valleys 

 and rich pasture lands ; fine old English lanes, with high banks 

 and tall hedgerows ; here and there a marshy place, and on the 

 Ingbirchworth side is a fine stretch of Yorkshire moorland. The 

 scenery is very irregular, and as one walks along it seems to 

 change every few yards ; in fact, ours is a naturalist's paradise, 

 though situated in the centre of the commercial life of the West 

 Riding. 



The following is a list of reptiles to be found in oar district. 

 They are all supposed to be venomous in this neighbourhood, 

 and on that account are killed. It is only when people see you 

 handle them that you can make them believe otherwise. 

 Zootoca vivipara. Common Lizard. Common on Rusby 

 Piece. 



Anguis fragilis. Blind worm. Rare ; Deffar Wood. 

 Tropidonotus natrix. Common Snake. Seen occasionally 



in Deffar Wood. 

 Triton cristatus. Great Water Newt. Common all over 



district. The Newts are known locally as 'Water Askers.' 

 Lophinus punctatus. Common Newt. Very common. 

 Lophinus palmatus. Palmate Newt. Niggar Dam and 



Jacob's Well. 

 Rana temporaria. Common Frog. Very common. 

 Bufo vulgaris. Common Toad. Common all over district. 

 Bufo calamita. Natterjack. Thirty or forty years ago they 



were to be found in Clayton West and Skelmanthorpe, now, 



I believe, they are extinct. I well remember a great-uncle 



1901 February 1. 11 



