RIVER GARDENS; 
ture, though forming, as I have said, a kind of Toad 
division in his special family, is yet much handsomer 
than the Toad; his long, slender form, and, in the 
early part of summer, the rich colouring of the under 
part of his body—orange, spotted with crimson— 
rendering him a very handsome creature: each 
tubercle, too, is ornamented with a bright speck of 
white, which produces a pretty sparkling effect. 
But I prefer the smooth, or Prog division, of the 
Newt family, all the individuals of which are ex¬ 
ceedingly graceful creatures, and often very elegantly 
marked with rich colours, especially during the 
breeding season. 
There are two species of the smooth spotted Newt 
(Lissotriton punctatus). The lesser species is the 
handsomest of the two. The male (figured in Plate 
VII., No. 1) is of a full rich grey on the hack, spotted 
with black; and underneath, of a fine orange colour, 
enriched with large finely formed spots of crimson. 
The female (No. 2, in the same Plate) is less richly 
coloured. It is, however, only during the summer 
season that this great disparity of colour exists, at 
which time the male is also distinguished by a hand¬ 
some fin-like crest, running the whole length of the 
back and tail. 
A pair of the larger species (Nos. 3 and 4, 
9i 
