[ !9 r ] 
the larva or aquatic Hate of our Englifh lacerta, 
known by the name of eft or newt (fee Fig. D and E) 
which ferve them for coverings to their gills, and for 
fins to fwim with during this date ; and which they 
lofe, as well as the fin of their tails, when they change 
their date and become land animals ; as I have ob- 
ferved by keeping them alive for fome time myfelf. 
Recolledting thefe obfervations on the changes of 
our lizard, and at the fame time the many remarkable 
changes in frogs, I began to fufpedt whether this 
animal might not be the larva date of fome large kind 
of lizard j and therefore requeued the favour of Dr. 
Solander, to examine with me the lacertas in the 
Britifh Mufeum ; that we might fee whether any of 
the young ones had only two feet ; but, after carefully 
going through many kinds, we could plainly difcover 
four feet perfectly formed, even in thofe that were 
juft coming out of their eggs. 
During this ftate of uncertainty, I forwarded to 
Dr. Linnaeus of Upfal, at Dr. Garden’s requeft, his 
account of the larged fpecimen, and, at the fame 
time, fent him one of the fmaller fpecimens preferved 
infpirits; defiring his opinion, for Dr. Garden’s, as well 
as my own, fatisfadtion. 
About the latter end of January lad, I was favoured 
with an anfwer from the Profeffor, dated Upfal, 
December 27, 1765, wherein he fays, 
" I received Dr. Garden’s very rare two-footed ani- 
“ mal with gills and lungs. The animal is probably 
“ the larva of fome kind of lacerta, which I very 
“ much defire that he will particularly enquire into. 
“ If it does not undergo a change, it belongs to 
“ the order of Nantes , which have both lungs and gills ; 
“ and 
