L A C E R T A. 
46 
fifth, though it has four feet; but the fcink has been like- 
wife erroneoufiy fuppofed a filh, in confequence of its liv¬ 
ing in the water. The (kin of the axolotl is dcfcribed as 
very fmooth, being (battered all over the belly with fmall 
fpots, which diminifh in fize from the middle of the body 
to the tail. The length and lize of this animal are fimi- 
lar to thofp of the a(k : its feet have only four toes, as in 
Jrogs ; from which we may fufpect, at lea(t, that the fifth 
toe is only wanting on the fore legs, as is the cafe in frogs, 
falamanders, and a(ks. The head is large in proportion 
to the body ; having a black mouth, which is aim oft con- 
ftantly open. A very abfurd fable has been related con¬ 
cerning this animal; it being pretended that the female is 
fubject to a monthly difcharge. This ridiculous (lory 
may proceed from the female producing her young alive, 
like the falamander; and perhaps it ought rather to have 
been referred to that fpecies than to the prefent article. 
The flefn of the axolotl is faid to be very good eating, and 
to refemble that of an eel. If that be the cafe, it may 
perhaps be only a frog in its tadpole (late, before the tail 
lias dropped oft'; but farther obfervatious are required, to 
enable us to decide with certainty on this fubjecl. 
31. Lacerta lacuftris, the fenny newt : colour black ; 
tail middle-fized, and lanceolate. It inhabits the lakes of 
Europe, and is very deftruCtive to filh. 
The following varieties of this fpecies are added in the 
Syftema Naturae by Gmelin. 
( 3 . Salamandra palujlris: dotted with black, and thrice 
the lize of the common a(k. 
y. Triton Zeylanicus: variegated with white and yellow, 
and fpotted wftth black. Seba obferves, that this animal 
in its natural element, which is the water, breathes fel- 
dom ; only about once in a quarter of an hour. For this 
purpofe it comes to the furface, opens its mouth, fends out 
a bubble of air, inllantly fwells its throat, which it as ra¬ 
pidly contracts, and then immediately retires. Even if it 
ftiould remain near the furface of the water, yet this bufi- 
nefs is done in an inftant, and as it were by Health ; and 
none of the fmaller motions of the throat are obferved. 
But, as foon as it is taken out of this element, and the 
water has run from off its nofe, and its noftrils are clear, it 
begins to move its throat, and that as rapidly as the fala- 
mander, or more lb; thefe motions are accompanied by the 
greater ones, and the doling of the noftrils ; but, if water 
be dropped on the noftrils, all thefe motions ceafe. 
Triton carnifcx: black and tuberculated, dotted on 
the throat, and fpotted on the belly; the tail as if bloody. 
Inhabits Ceylon. 
e. Triton alpcjlris: black and tuberculated; having a 
yellow belly. 
|. Triton utinenfis: having a globular head; the back 
being black, with yellow fpots. 
r,."Triton Wurfbainii: black, with whitilh ftreaks. 
S. Triton Ge/neri: black, the belly dotted with white. 
31. Lacerta aquatica, the common water-newt: olive 
brown fpotted with black, with orange-coloured abdo¬ 
men, and Ibarp-edged finuated tail. This, which in Eng¬ 
land occurs in almolt every foft ftagnant water, is a much 
fmaller fpecies than the paluftris; and, though the differ¬ 
ent fpecimens occafionally vary very conliderably as to 
the call of colour, yet the animal may at all tiipes be 
readily diltinguifned from others. Its general length is 
about three indies and a half, and it very rarely exceeds 
four inches. The male is diltinguilhable at firll fight from 
the female by its very confpicuous dorfal crell or procefs, 
which is broader in proportion, more ftrongly elevated, 
and more regularly linuated, than that of the larger fpe¬ 
cies : the finuations are continued to the very tip of the 
tail on the upper part, and take place likewife in a limilar 
proportion on the under part at the junction of the tail 
with the abdomen ; whereas in the larger fpecies the up¬ 
per part alone of the tail can properly be faid to be crelt- 
ed: this wide procefs, or finuated part, is remarkably 
trar.fparent, and, when viewed with a lens of even mode¬ 
rately magnifying power, exhibits very diitinftly the ra¬ 
mifications of the blood-veffels difperfed through it; but, 
it examined by the microfcope, is, perhaps, of all other 
objects that can be fele&ed for that purpofe, the moll eli¬ 
gible for exhibiting a general view of the circulation ; 
(bowing, in the molt diltindl and beautiful manner, the 
rapid current of the blood, the particles of which, in this 
animal, as well as in the reft of the amphibia, are of an 
oval form ; not round, as in the mammalia. In the greater 
water-newt, on the contrary, this part, being nearly opake, 
can by no means advantageoufly exhibit the fame phse- 
nomenon. The female is almolt deftitute of the dorfal 
creft, but the tail is furnilhed with an approach to it, 
though far lefs confpicuous than in the male. 
The general colour of the male is olive-brown, beauti¬ 
fully and diftinflly marked with numerous round black 
fpots, difperfed over every part, but largeft and moll con¬ 
fpicuous on the lides and tail: the abdomen is orange- 
coloured, the black fpots often appearing rather lefs in- 
tenfe on that part than on the hack. The female differs 
very conliderably in colour, being generally of a pale yel- 
lowilh brown, much lefs diltinCtly fpotted; and, from the 
want of the dorfal creft, might be almoft miftaken for a 
different fpecies by a perfon not converfant in the hiftory 
of the animal. On the top of the head, in both fexes, are 
three or four longitudinal dulky ftreaks; the eyes are 
fmall and gold-coloured: the fore feet tetradadlylous; 
the hind pentadaClylous ; all deftitute of claws, and in 
fome fpecimens more or lefs approaching to a kind of pal- 
mated appearance towards the bafe, as in the fixth figure 
of the fixth plate of Latreille’s work on the Salamanders 
of France; which figure appears, fays Dr. Shaw, to repre- 
fent no other than a very fine fpecimen of the male of the 
prefent lpscies, though confidered as different by Monf. 
Latreille, and diftinguilhed by the title of punElata. It is 
certain that the water-newt varies conliderably in the call 
of its colour at different times of the year, and, in differ¬ 
ent dates of the weather, even in the courfe of the fame 
day ; and, if taken out of foft water, and fuddenly plunged 
into that of a colder temperature, will almoft immediately 
become of a conliderably darker tinge than before. 
The water-newt breeds in the early part of the fpring, 
depofiting fmall oblong' firings or chillers of fpawn, from 
which are foon hatched the larvae or young, which, for a 
confiderable period, are furnilhed with a triple pair of ra¬ 
mified branchial fins or proceffes on each fide the neck; 
thus giving the animal, in fome degree, the appearance of 
a fmall filh. See Plate IV. fig. 7. a , b. Thefe parts, after 
having ferved their temporary purpofe of aftifting the ref- 
piration of the animal during its growing Hate, are gra¬ 
dually obliterated. Water-newts frequently call their 
(kins, which may be occafionally obferved floating in the 
waters they inhabit, and are fometimes fo perfect as to ex¬ 
hibit the whole form of the complete animal. The)? alfo 
are remarkable for a high degree of reproductive power, 
and have been known to exhibit the relloration of their 
legs, tails, and even, according to Dr. Blumenbach, of 
the eyes themfelves, after having been deprived of them 
by cutting. That the eyes of the common green lizard 
(L. agilis) have been reftored to their former fullnefs and 
llrength after being punClured with a needle fo as to let 
out the aqueous humour, is an obfervation recorded by 
Pliny; by which we may conclude, that wanton cruelty 
to animals is a thing of no late date. Water-newts have 
been found completely imbedded in mafles of ice, in which 
they mult have .remained fome weeks, or even perhaps 
months, and yet, on the diffolution of the ice, have been 
reftored to their former vigour. It is remarkable that they 
are very readily killed by being plunged into fait water, 
or ruhbed on the back for a Ihort time with common fait. 
Linnaeus feems not to have underftood clearly the na¬ 
ture of this animal; lince, after its fpecinc character, in 
the 12th edit, of the Syftema Natune, he propofes a quef- / 
tion ; whether it may not be the larva of the Lacerta vul¬ 
garis ? and in a former edition of the fame work he ap¬ 
pears to think it the larva of the L. agilis; upon which 
3 " query 
