SALAMANDER* 291 



character : native of Egypt, about the neighbour- 

 hood of houses, &c. : observed by Forskal. 



Salamanders^ Newts, or Efts, 



SALAMANDER. 



Lacerta Saiamandra. L. nigra luteo maculata, cauda tereti me" 

 diocri. 



Black Lizard, spotted with gold-colour, with tail of middling 

 length. 



Lacerta Saiamandra. L. cauda tereti brevi, pedibus muficis, pal- 

 mis tetradactylis, corpore poroso nudo. Lin. Syst. Nat, p. 371' 



Saiamandra terrestris. Aldr. Quad. 641. Raj. Quadr. 273. 

 Gesn, Quadr. 80. 



The Salamander, so long the subject of popular 

 error, and of which so many idle tales have beeii 

 recited by the more ancient naturalists, is an inha- 

 bitant of many parts of Germany, Italy, France, 

 &c. but does not appear to have been discovered 

 in England. It delights in moist and shady 

 place's^ woods, &c. and is chiefly seen during a 

 rainy season. In the winter it lies concealed 

 in the hollows about the roots of old trees; in 

 subterraneous recesses, or in the cavities of old 

 Avails, &c. The Salamander is easily distin- 

 guished by its colours ; being of a deep shining 

 black, variegated with large, oblong, and ra- 

 ther irregular patches of bright orange-yellow, 

 Avhich, on each side the back, are commonly so 

 disposed as to form a pair of interrupted longi- 



