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BRITISH REPTILES.

BY

THOMAS BELL, F.R.S. F.L.S. V.P.Z.S.

CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE PHILOMATHIC AND NATURAL HISTORY
SOCIETIES OF PARIS, AND OF THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA.

PROFESSOR OF ZOOLOGY IN KING’S COLLEGE, LONDON.

ILLUSTRATED BY MORE THAN FORTY WOODCUTS.

LONDON:
JOHN VAN VOORST, 1, PATERNOSTER ROW,

M.DCCC.XXXIX.

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THIS LITTLE VOLUME,
FORMING A HUMBLE PORTION OF THAT SERIES OF WORKS
ILLUSTRATIVE OF
Pett Pies A 2.0.0 LOG xe
WHICH DERIVES ITS PRINCIPAL
ATTRACTION AND VALUE
FROM HIS EXTENSIVE INFORMATION
AND HAPPY METHOD OF COMMUNICATING IT,
IS INSCRIBED

AS A CORDIAL BUT INADEQUATE OFFERING

OF REGARD AND RESPECT,

BY HIS SINCERE FRIEND,

THE AUTHOR.

INTRODUCTION,

Tue Reptilia constitute a class of vertebrated animals of
which the structural characters are as follow:—They have
cold blood,—that is to say, their power of producing animal
heat is so limited as scarcely to be appreciable, and not suffi-
cient, therefore, to keep wp any standard temperature of the
body, nor to prevent it from following all the thermal varia-
tions of the atmosphere or water by which they are sur-
rounded,

The integument is covered with hard and dry cuticle in
various modifications of form, in some constituting broad
plates, in others imbricated scales. The heart is in all cases
trilocular,—that is to say, it is composed of two auricles and
a single ventricle ; the respiration is exclusively pulmonary
throughout life, and their reproduction is oviparous. The
Amphibia, or batrachia, which are included in the Reptilia
by Cuvier and many other naturalists, differ from them, how-
ever, in various essential and important characters. ‘The heart
particularly is bilocular. The integument is naked, and the
respiration is carried on by means of branchie during the
earlier period of life, changing in some totally, and in others
partially, to the pulmonary character in the adult condition.

The Reptilia, according to most naturalists, include five
orders : the J'estudinata, or Tortoises and Turtles; the na-
liosauria of Conybeare, to which the gigantic fossil genera, the
Ichthyosaurus and Plesiosaurus belong ; the Loricata, or Cro-

Vill INTRODUCTION.

codiles and Alligators; the Sauria, or Lizard tribe, and the
Ophidia, or Serpents.

There is no other class of vertebrated animals the dif
ferent groups of which are formed upon types of structure
differing so essentially from each other as these. The
eagle and the humming-bird, the ostrich and the petrel,
widely as they appear to be separated from each other, not
by size only, but by form and habits, still exhibit the same
general structure of the skeleton, of the organs of digestion
and motion, of the integument, and, in fact, of the whole or-
ganization of the body,—the various systems of which differ
only amongst the different groups by comparative degrees of
developement. Even amongst the Mammalia, the whale
with its enormous and almost mountainous bulk, paddled
through the deepest retreats of ocean by its short fins, which
are modifications of the anterior extremities, and by that
broad expanded oar, its fleshy tail,—is still formed upon the
same general plan of organization, as the little light and aérial
bat, which flits so rapidly through the regions of air, sup-
ported by its thin membranous wings, which are expanded
upon slight and linear fingers, the representatives of the same
bones, which in the former animal are contracted into a mas-
sive and shapeless fin. Nor is there in the other organs of
the body any more considerable difference of developement.
But in the present class, the discrepancies are far more con-
spicuous, particularly in the whole constitution of the ske-
leton, in the organs of motion, in the integuments, and many
other important portions of their organization. If, with
Cuvier, and most other Zoologists, we include the amphi-
bious group in this class, these discrepancies are still more
remarkable ; but even restricting our view to the Reptilia
proper, they are sufficiently striking; and a slight glance at
the general structure of two of the orders will exhibit them in
a very obvious point of view.

INTRODUCTION, ix

In the Chelonians, or Tortoises, and in the Ophidians, or
Serpent tribe, the extremes of these different types of organ-
ization are exhibited. In the common European land Tor-
toise, J'’estudo Graca, which may be selected as a familiar
example of the former group, the whole structure of the
skeleton is brought into the most compact and solid state.
The bones of the cranium and face are consolidated into a
single and immoveable case, with scarcely the vestige of su-
tures showing the separation of the different centres of ossifi-
cation upon which it has been formed; there are no teeth,
but the margins of the upper and of the lower jaw are covered
by a horny beak, the latter being received into a groove of
the former, and thus closing like the lid of a box; then the
whole of the dorsal vertebra, the ribs, the bones representing
the sterno-costal cartilages, and the broad united sternum, are
altogether compacted into a case of bone, without any sepa-
ration between the parts of which it is composed. The an-
terior and posterior extremities are fully developed, but in-
stead of being placed exterior to the thorax, they are all
of them contained within its cavity, and even the bones
of the feet are only extended beyond the horny box which
protects them, when the animal is employing them in pro-
gression.

What a contrast to this solid and compact structure is
exhibited by the form of the lithe and tortuous Serpent !
Most of the bones of the head are permanently separate ;
those of the upper and Jower jaw particularly being capable of
great extension ; there are perfect teeth ; the vertebrae, which
are extremely numerous, are susceptible of the most extensive
lateral motion; and the ribs, slender and but slightly at-
tached, compensate for the absence of both anterior and pos-
terior extremities, by being themselves the instruments of the
animal’s progression. It is unnecessary here to enter more

particularly into the detail of these curious diversities of
b

xX INTRODUCTION.

structure ; enough has been said to show how far these two
groups are separated from each other in their general organ-
ization; and it needs scarcely to be added that the divers-
ity of their habits is not less remarkable.

The relations of these groups seem almost to set all the
established principles of classification at defiance ; nor is there
any one system hitherto promulgated which appears to me
satisfactorily to solve the difficulty. 'Those who have made
the most philosophical attempts to ascertain the natural sys-
tem, the grand and harmonious plan upon which all organic
creation is believed to have been formed, have concurred in
considering the Reptilia as constituting a group of equal
value in the vertebrate division of the animal kingdom, with
the Mammalia and birds. It may be safely predicated that, if
the system to which I more particularly refer be true, all the
groups of equal rank must be founded upon characters of
equal value and importance. That if, for instance, the
group of Mammalia and that of birds, be equal to each other,
each of the other classes,—that is to say, every other group
of the same rank,—must be equal to each other ; and also,
that the subordinate groups in each of these classes must ex-
hibit the same mutual relations in every case. But if it can
be shown that in one class, so called, two ordinal groups
exhibit as great a discrepancy in their relative plan of organ-
ization as any two classes do, then the relation of the former
to either of the latter is not, and cannot be the same, as that
which exists between the latter two. Yet in this predica-
ment stand the three first classes of the Vertebrata; the
relations of the Mammalia and birds being much stronger and
more obvious than those of the Reptilia to either, and the two
groups of the latter, which I have just sketched, the Tor-
toises and the Serpents, being nearly or quite as far removed
by their structure from each other as the birds are from the
Mammalia. The mode of reproduction is the sole exception

INTRODUCTION. xi

of consequence to this view of their relations ; and here we
have, on the other hand, a close approximation between the
Reptilia and the birds themselves.

These considerations appear to me to exhibit insurmount-
able objections to the consistency and unity of the quinary
arrangement, as representing an uniform and perfect plan or
system upon which the animal kingdom was created; and I
cannot believe that the occasional occurrence of even striking
and important coincidences, which appear on a partial view to
prove its truth, are suflicient to counterbalance the evidence
of its inconsistency which I have just adduced.

I shall now enter into a more particular description of the
structure of these animals, commencing with the organs of cir-
culation and respiration. The heart, which is formed of three
cavities,—namely, of two distinct auricles opening into one
common ventricle, sends to the lungs, on each contraction, a
portion only of the blood which it has received from the
different parts of the body by the veins, so that the blood
which, by the heart’s contraction, is distributed to the body
through the arteries, is of a mixed nature, consisting of a por-
tion of the impure blood just returned from thence, with that
which has been aérated in the lungs. It is clear that the blood
is by this mechanism but partially changed by the action of
oxygen; in other words, that the quantity of respiration,
speaking with reference to the physiological meaning of the
term, is comparatively small. Hence arises the circumstance
that these animals have what is called cold blood ; for as it is
from respiration that the blood derives its heat, and the tem-
perature of the body is thereby sustained in animals which
have more perfect respiration, it follows that where this fune-
tion is but imperfectly performed, the animal heat, muscular
force, and all the other functions dependent upon respiration,
will be diminished. In the fishes the same effect is produced
by different means. These are likewise cold-blooded ani-

b 2

xil INTRODUCTION.

mals; and in these, also, this peculiarity arises from the
small quantity of respiration which they enjoy ; but the phe-
nomenon which in the reptiles is produced by the trans-
mission of a part only of the blood through the respiratory
organ at each contraction of the heart, is in the fishes effected
by the different medium through which the oxygen is pre-
sented to the blood ; for in the latter, although the whole of
the blood is sent through the branchia, or gills, the quantity
of oxygen, held in solution in the water which bathes them, is
so small as to effect but a partial change in the condition of
the blood. In one case the circulation is complete, but the
respiration is aquatic, and therefore imperfect ; in the other,
the application of the air to the blood is immediate, but the
circulation is incomplete. In the Mammalia, on the con-
trary, where the heart is double, and the circulation conse-
quently complete, combined with atmospheric respiration, the
animal heat is considerable; and in birds it is even higher
still, from the increased quantity of respiration produced by
numerous air sacs and cells pervading all parts of the body,
and communicating with the lungs.

From the structure of the Reptilia, it follows that they
possess but little power of sustaining muscular action; and
although capable in many instances of moving rapidly for a
short time, it is only when they are supplied with that degree
of temperature externally which is denied them from an in-
ternal source, that they are capable of exerting any energy
at all; and if deprived of external heat to a certain extent,
they pass into a state of torpidity or hibernation.

The respiratory and sanguiferous systems being thus cir-
cumscribed in their extent, and the nervous and muscular
powers in a corresponding degree limited, we are prepared
to find that the other functions of the body are no less tardy
in their operation. Digestion is carried on only in propor-
tion to the degree of temperature of the surrounding atmo-

INTRODUCTION. Xill

sphere; and even under the most favourable circumstances is
extremely slow. Many Serpents are more than a fortnight
after taking their food before the undigested remains are
voided, during which period they usually fast. If the tem-
perature in which they are placed be very low, it is greatly
retarded, and during hibernation it ceases altogether; for I
have known a Tortoise which had fed largely upon grass im-
mediately before it became torpid, retain the grass un-
changed in the stomach during the whole of the winter, so
that on opening the body after its death, which took place
immediately on its awaking in the spring, and before it had
any access to food, the stomach was found filled with a large
quantity of grass wholly undigested.

The phenomena of hibernation are amongst the most re-
markable and interesting which occur in the history of ani-
mals. That the cold-blooded creatures of which we are now
treating, with their limited respiration and circulation, their
entire dependence upon external heat to carry on their func-
tions, and the consequent diminution of all their powers, and
of their expenditure also, during a low degree of external
temperature, should be able to sustain life for an almost in-
definite period, under peculiar circumstances, is not, perhaps,
so surprising. But this simple torpidity is very different
from that true hibernation to which many of the warm-
blooded animals are liable. The bats, the squirrel, the dor-
mouse, the marmots, and many others, may be cited as
examples. It is sufficient in reference to the present class to
observe, that in temperate or cool climates, the whole of them
retire during the winter to some place of concealment; the
land Tortoises to excavations which they often dig for them-
selves; the fresh-water Tortoises to holes in the muddy
banks, or to the mud at the bottom, of their native lakes or
rivers; the Lizards and Serpents to holes in trees, under
stones, beneath dead leaves, or in similar hiding-places,

XIV INTRODUCTION.

where many species, especially of the latter order, congregate
in large numbers, and are found closely entwined together.
Here they pass the winter in a state of almost lifeless re-
pose, the functions of life so nearly suspended, that none of
the external signs of its existence are visible. The circula-
tion is extremely slow, the respiration apparently altogether
stopped, digestion absolutely suspended. The return of the.
genial warmth of spring calls them again into action. The
circulation is restored, the blood is again fitted for its various
offices by the return of regular respiration, the functions of
the digestive organs are again performed, and the animal
resumes its former habits, without having undergone any
material change.

I haye already hinted at the difficulties which exist in
forming a consistent and unobjectionable arrangement of
these animals. The order of Testudinata and that of Lo-
ricata, —the former comprising the Tortoises and Turtles,
the latter the Crocodiles and their congeners,—are natural
and well defined; nor is there any sufficient ground for iden-
tifying the latter group with the true Saurians. On the other
hand, the Saurians and the Ophidians are so nearly related
in all important points of their structure, and pass into each
other by such insensible gradations, that I cannot but think
that Merrem was correct in viewing them as constituting a
single order, to which he gave the name Squamata, from the
nature of their dermal covering. If the true Ophidians, or
Serpents, be considered as ordinally distinct from the Li-
zards, the intermediate group to which Mr. Gray has given
the name Saurophidia, must also constitute a distinct order ;
but I am rather disposed to follow Merrem’s arrangement.
Adding, therefere, the Enaliosaurians of Conybeare, in-
cluding the great fossil reptiles, the Ichthyosaurt and Plesto-
sauria, as a group probably intermediate between the Tor-

INTRODUCTION. XY

toises and Crocodiles, we have the following orders of this
class; — namely, Testudinata, Enaliosauria, Loricata, and
Squamata, the last including the true Saurians, the true Ser-
pents, and the intermediate group, the Saurophidia of Gray.
For convenience sake, however, and because the present work
is scarcely a fit arena for the discussion of disputed methods
of arrangement, I prefer adopting, for the present popular
purpose, the more usual one to which I have before alluded.
The first of the orders, the Testudinata, includes the Tor-
toises and Turtles. Although we have no species of this
order inhabiting the British islands, yet as there have been
occasionally stray individuals of the marine forms brought to
our coasts, and even taken alive, and as many species of the
land and fresh water forms are often kept living in our
gardens and ponds, it may not be uninteresting or inappro-
priate to offer a short account of their general organization
and habits. Their structure, as has been already observed,
differs in a very remarkable manner from that of the rest of
the class. The arrangement of the osseous system has al-
ready been glanced at; and it offers the most remarkable
tendency to consolidation and strength, to the sacrifice of
facility and variety of motion. In the terrestrial forms
especially this character is carried to an extreme degree ; the
vertebra, the ribs, and the sternum are all closely and inse-
parably united into a compact solid case, in which the whole
of the viscera, and, during rest, the head, limbs, and tail are
covered and protected. So strong is this shell, both from
the thickness and solidity of its parieties, and from the arched
form of the superior portion, that in many species it will bear
immense pressure without injury. In certain genera, however,
this bony box, although still exceedingly strong, has certain
parts which are rendered moveable, for the still more com-
plete protection of the enclosed organs. ‘Thus in the genus

Kinixys, a terrestrial form, the lumbar portion of the carapax,

Xvl INTRODUCTION.

or upper part of the case, is moveable, so that the animal has
the power, when the limbs and tail are withdrawn within it, to
close that moveable piece against the posterior part of the
sternum; and in the genus Pyvxis the anterior portion of the
sternum exhibits this peculiarity in a still more remarkable
degree. But it is in the genera J'errapene, Kinosternon,
and Sternothenus, all of them aquatic or palustrine forms,
that this peculiarity is the most obvious. In the first-named
genus especially, the sternum is formed of two distinct valves,
moveable upon a single cartilaginous hinge, and capable of com-
pletely closing the bony box, of which it thus forms a double
lid ; within this admirable shelter the animal is wholly in-
cluded, and, if disturbed, resists, by means of its powerful
muscles, every attempt to open it. The general form of the
carapax, or upper part of the shell, is also admirably adapted
to the habits of the different groups of which this order is
composed. In the land Tortoises it is strong, compact, ele-
vated, and regularly arched, for the purpose of resisting the
numerous injuries to which their localities, and especially
their extreme slowness of movement, must otherwise expose
them. In the aquatic species, on the contrary, it is remarka-
bly flattened, especially in the genus T'rionyx, which has
also the margins of the ribs free towards their extremities,
and the whole body covered with a coriaceous skin, which is
free at the edges, and serves the same purpose as the flattened
lateral fins of the flat fishes, such as the sole and plaice,—
namely, to enable them to scuttle themselves under the mud
or sand at the bottom of the rivers or lakes in which they
reside. These last have also a very long and retractile neck,
by which they are able, when thus concealed, to seize fish
which pass immediately above them, by suddenly stretching
out the neck, and then as suddenly withdrawing it. The
land Tortoises, which are exclusively vegetable feeders, are
slow in their motions, the limbs being clumsy and club-

INTRODUCTION. XVil

shaped. The fresh-water forms are all of them carnivorous ;
the neck is therefore long, the legs lax and flexible, and the
feet palmated to enable them to pursue their prey with consi-
derable rapidity ; whilst the marine Turtles have them modi-
fied into true paddles, the toes being entirely concealed by
hard scaled skin. These modifications of form are very inter-
esting, as evincing an admirable adaptation of a general plan
of structure to the varied habits of the different groups.

The jaws of all these different forms are covered with a
hard, sharp, horny beak, the lower portion of which shuts
within the upper, and the portions of food are cut or snapped
off, as it were, on the principle of shears. The aquatic spe-
cies aid the separation of their food, which they seize with
their jaws, by tearing it by means of their long and sharp
claws. ‘They thus pursue, seize, and tear in pieces living
frogs, and other aquatic reptiles, fish, and even young water
birds; and so forcible and violent is their bite, that I have
known a stick of half an inch in diameter at once snapped
asunder by the jaws of a snapping Turtle, Chelydra serpen-
tina ; and a specimen of TJ'rionyx, lately in the possession of
Mr. Cross, of the Surrey Zoological Gardens, snapped off the
finger of a sailor when on his voyage to this country.

The whole of the Testudinata are strictly oviparous, and
the egg is covered by a calcareous shell, like that of birds ;
the eggs of the land Tortoises, as well as those of the marine
Turtles, are generally round; but those of the fresh-water
genera are usually more or less oval or elliptical. The multi-
tudes of fresh-water Tortoises in some districts is astonish-
ingly great, and their eggs form a lucrative article of com-
merce from the quantity of oil which is obtained from them.

It has been already stated that we have no indigenous
species of this order. There are, however, on record several
well-authenticated instances of marine Turtles, of two distinct
species, having found their way to our coasts, one of them

XVill INTRODUCTION.

probably from the Mediterranean, and the other from the
American shores across the Atlantic. The former is the
Coriaceous Turtle, Spargis Coriacea, called by Merrem by
the specific name of Mercurialis, on account of its having
been in ancient times dedicated to Mercury, by whom its
shell was believed to have been employed in the construction
of the lyre. Of this species two specimens are recorded by
Borlase in his History of Cornwall, as having been caught in
the mackerel nets off that coast in July 1756, the detail of
which is given in the description of the species.

I have been induced to enter thus at large into the history
of this tribe of reptiles, because, although we do not possess
any British species, there is every reason to believe that
several of the fresh-water species, both of Europe and of
North America, might be naturalized in the southern parts of
England. The Terrapene Europea, the common lacustrine
Tortoise of the Continent, is found in Portugal, Spain, Italy,
and Greece, in France, and even in Prussia. These Tor-
toises are eaten by the inhabitants of all the countries in
which they are found ; and as they live principally upon small
fish, the air-bags of which they reject, it is said that the
people are wont to judge of the quantity of Tortoises to be
found in a lake or pond, by the number of air-bags which are
seen swimming on the surface of the water. In some parts
they are fed upon grains, and on other nourishing food, and fat-
tened for the table. There are also several American species of
Emys, or fresh-water Tortoise, which will bear a greater degree
of cold than that of most of our winters without perishing ; and
it is certainly desirable that a wholesome and agreeable food,
like that afforded by some of these, should not be lost to us
if the species can be easily perpetuated and multiplied in our
climate.

Of the third order of Reptiles, to which the term Loricata
has been given on account of the peculiar coat of hard mail

INTRODUCTION. xix

with which all the species are covered, we have happily no indi-
genous example, nor would any of them bear the cold of our
climate. The Crocodiles and Alligators of both worlds, and
the Gavials of India, constitute this order. They are dis-
tinguished from the true Saurians, or Lizard tribe, by several
important characters. Of these, the most tangible and ob-
vious is that upon which the name of the order is founded ;
the covering of the whole of the back part of the neck,
body, and tail, with distinct series of bones, of moderate size,
embedded, as it were, in the substance of the skin, and
covered externally with a thick cuticle. These dermal bones
are usually furnished with a crest, which renders: them ex-
ceedingly strong, and they altogether form a panoply of de-
fence which can resist the attacks of the most powerful
enemies of whatever kind. ‘These animals are carnivorous,
taking their prey generally in the water, but retiring to the
shore to devour it, which they often defer until it has become
half putrid. For the reasons given above, I do not think it
necessary to enter into particulars respecting the structure and
history of these animals. They can never become of local
interest to us, as they are not made subservient to any pur-
pose of utility to man, nor can they be naturalized in our
latitude.

The true Saurians are characterized by the existence of
both anterior and posterior extremities, and of a moderate
number of perfect and moveable ribs, by an entire covering of
scales, which in most families are imbricated, in others flat
and with their margins in mutual contact. The eyes are fur-
nished with eyelids; ‘the ear in some protected by a simple
valve, in others by scales rather larger than the surrounding
ones, and in others the tympanum is on a level with the sur-
face of the skin.

In this group are found some of the most active, and cer-
tainly the most beautiful of the reptile class. Many of them

xx: INTRODUCTION.

are tinctured with the most brilliant colours; and as they
are called into the greatest activity in the bright sunshine,
nothing can surpass the splendour of their ever-changing hues.
Most of the Saurians are insectivorous ; but there are some,
as the Iguanas, which live principally on fruit. The activity
of the smaller insectivorous Lizards, when in pursuit of their
food is exceedingly curious and interesting. They watch
with all the caution of a cat, and dart upon their prey with
the quickness of lightning.

In the act of seizing their food, however, they must neces-
sarily be exposed to some danger from the noxious qualities
of the insects which they indiscriminately attack. The fol-
lowing fact would seem to indicate that even in our own
temperate climate, an insect not generally recognized as poi-
sonous may inflict a fatal injury upon its Saurian enemy :—
Some years since I had in my possession two living specimens
of the beautiful little green anolis of the West Indies, a
Lizard about the size of our own smallest species. I was in
the habit of feeding them with flies and other insects, and
having one day placed in the cage with them a very large
garden spider, Epetra diadena, one of the Lizards darted at
it, but seized it only by the leg. The spider instantly ran
round and round the creature’s mouth, weaving a very thick
web around both jaws, and then gave it a severe bite in the
lip, just as this species of spider usually does with any large
insect which it has taken. The lizard was greatly distressed,
and I removed the spider, and rubbed off the web, the con-
finement of which appeared to give it great annoyance ; but
in a few days it died, though previously in as perfect health
as its companion, which lived for a long time afterwards.

It has been already observed that the passage from the
Lizard tribe to the Serpents is by a succession of very gradual
modifications of developement. In the lower forms of the
Saurian group, the body becomes gradually elongated and

INTRODUCTION. XXxi

serpentiform: its ribs increase in number, the anterior and
posterior limbs are removed farther and farther from each
other, and diminish in size and power, exhibiting in some
forms the anterior, and in others the posterior only, external
to the integument, until at length they cease to appear, being
merely rudimentary, and wholly covered by the skin. Of
this transition state we have an example in the common Slow-
worm, Anguis fragilis, which, though completely Serpenti-
form in its external appearance, yet possesses the minute
‘rudiments of limbs entirely concealed under the integuments.
Notwithstanding this general form of the Serpent, they have
not the expansible jaws of the true Serpents: nor-is the cha-
racter of the ears the same, the tympanic membrane not
being superficial, nor the auditory passage covered by inte-
gument; the eyes, also, like those of the Lizards, are fur-
nished with moveable eyelids, which are wholly wanting in
the true Serpents.

Upon these characters, and several others of minor im-
portance, Mr. Gray founded his intermediate order of Sauro-
phidians, to comprehend all the transition forms; but it may,
perhaps, be objected that the group is not sufficiently defined
to sanction such a distinction. On the other hand, it must
be confessed that it is difficult to reconcile the separation of
the Ophidians from the Saurians, according to the arrange-
ment of Cuvier, who, to effect this, has been obliged to place
some of these intermediate genera in the former, whilst he
retains others in the latter group. Upon the whole, as I
have before observed, it appears more consonant with nature
to consider, with Merrem, that the whole of these three
groups constitute but a single order.

The movements of the Saurian reptiles are effected prin-
cipally by means of their feet, and in some of the higher
forms, exclusively so; but as they descend towards the more
elongated form of the Scznks, and other genera, in which

XXil INTRODUCTION.

these organs become more and more subordinate, they are
greatly assisted by the lateral motion of the bodies, different
parts of which are brought into alternate contact with and
pressure upon either the roughness of the ground, or the
shrubs and herbage through which they pass. A comparison
of the progression of these, however, and even of the Slow-
worm, with that of the true Snakes, will show that the latter
only employ the free terminations of their ribs as organs of
locomotion. In these the ribs serve absolutely and perfectly —
the function of feet, and with the exception of their being
covered with integument, their action is exactly that of the
multitudinous feet in the Scolopendra or Julus, the whole
series of ribs coming into contact in succession. At
the same time, it is upon the lateral motion of the body and
the alternate lateral pressure of successive portions of it, that
the Serpents mainly depend for the rapidity of their pro-
gression.

It appears almost necessary to apologise for offering this
sketch of some of the most important phenomena in the
structure and habits of the different groups of existing Rep-
tilia. I have been induced to do so by the consideration that
very little is popularly known respecting them, and by the
eagerness with which information of this nature is sought by
many, whose habits and opportunities forbid any personal in-
vestigation into the depths of anatomical and physiological
science.

INDEX.

The systematic names are printed in italics.

Adder, 58. Lizard, common, 32.
Anguis fragilis, 39. », sand, 17.
Blind-worm, 39. » scaly, 33.
Bufo calamita, 116. »» Viviparous, 32,

», mephitica, ib. »» warty, 120.

», Rubeta, id. Molge palustris, 120.

>, terrestris, 105. », punctata, 143.

oe »» fetidus, 116. Natrix torquata, 47.

», vulgaris, 105. »» vulgaris, 47.

Natter-Jack, 116.
Newt, greater, 119.

Chelonia imbricata, 1.
Coluber ceruleus, 59—69,

», Dumfresiensis, 57. » (smooth), palmated, 149,

», natrix, 48. ”» Ap common, 42.

», torquatus, 48. 3, (warty), common, 119.
Corindo coriacea, 11. ” 9 straight-lipped, 139,

Dermatochelys porcata, 11.
Eft, 142.
Evet, 142.
Frog, common, 84.
>» scottish, 102.
Lacerta agilis, 17—33.
», aquatica, 142.
», anguiformis, 18.
», arenicola, 18.
», maculata, 143.
> @edura, 33.
», palustris, 119.
», stirpium, 18.
», vivipara, 33.
Lissotriton palmipes, 149.
93 punctatus, 142,
Lizard, brown, 143,

Pelius Berus, 58.
Rana aquatica, 84.
3, Bufo, 105.
»» fusca, 84.
», Rubeta, 116.
», Scotica, 102.
-,, temporaria, 84,
Salamandra aquatica, 119.

on cristata, 119.
53 punctata, 143,
A vittata, 153.

Slow-worm, 39.

Snake, common, 47.
», Dumfries, 57.
», ringed, 47.

Testudo coriacea, 11.
»» imbricata, 1.

XX1V

Testudo Mercurii, 11.
Toad, common, 105.

», Natter-Jack, 116.
Triton aquaticus, 143.

», Bibronii, 139.

», eristatus, 119.

», palustris, 120—143.

», punctatus, 143.

», vittatus, 150.
Tropidonotus Natrix, 48.
Turtle, coriaceous, 11.

INDEX.

Turtle, hawksbill, 1.
», leathery, 11.
trunk, a
Viper, black, 59—70.
5, blue-bellied, 59—69.
», common, 58.
», red, 59—67.
Vipera Berus, 59.
», chersea, 59—67.
», communis, 59.
», vulgaris, 59.

ERRATUM.

Page 86, line 5 from the bottom, for a read the colony of Frogs.

BRITISH REPTILES.

TESTUDINATA. CHELONIADE.

Genus, Chelonia. Brongn.

Generic Character.— Dorsum large, depressed, somewhat heart-shaped,
covered with horny plates ; feet depressed, fin-shaped,

HAWK’S-BILL TURTLE.

Chelonia imbricata. Schweig,

Speeifie Character.—Dorsal plates thirteen, free at the margins, imbricated.

Testudo imbricata, Linn. Syst. Nat. p. 350, sp. 2. Scunerp. Schildkr. p. 509.
Penn. Faun, Ind. p. 87. Larr. Hist. Rept. I. p. 50.
Daup. Hist. Rept. II. p. 39.

Chelonia imbricata, Scuweic. Prod. in Archiv. Koenigsb. I. p. 291, et 408.
Gray, Syn. Rept. p. 52, sp. 1. Binsron, Hist. Rept.
II. p. 548, t. xxv. f.2. Bonar. (Pr. Musign.) Syn.
Chelon,

Hawksbill Turtle, Brown, Jamaic. p. 463. Caress. Nat. Hist. Carol. II.
p- 39, t. lix.

B

4 CHELONIADE.

Turtle to the species about to be described, is very hard,
but the edge is sharp, in most cases toothed, and that of the
lower jaw is received into a groove of the upper; so that the
food taken between them is not only cut by the external
sharp edges passing each other, but bruised by the pressure of
the lower mandible against this upper groove and its internal
margin. When not engaged in feeding, they are often seen
floating without the slightest movement on the surface of
the sea, sometimes at considerable distance from the land,
apparently asleep ; for they are at such times easily approached
and taken.

The annual resort of the various species of marine Turtles
to the land for the purpose of depositing their eggs, is one of
the most interesting points of their history. On the Island
of Ascension, on the shores of the Gulf of Florida, and in
many other places, innumerable multitudes of Turtles arrive
at a period of ‘the year differing somewhat in the different
species, but in all during the early part of the summer.
They resort to their favourite breeding-places from various
parts, some even from a great distance ; and there is reason to
believe that each individual returns year after year to the same
place. The following details of this operation, from the
graphic pen of my friend Audubon, are so interesting that
I offer no apology for inserting them without mutilation.

“On first nearing the shore, and mostly on fine calm
moonlight nights, the Turtle raises her head above the water,
being still distant thirty or forty yards from the beach, looks
around her, and attentively examines the objects on shore.
Should she observe nothing likely to disturb her intended
operations, she emits a loud hissing sound, by which such of
her many enemies as are unaccustomed to it are startled, and
so are apt to remove to another place, although unseen by
her. Should she hear any noise, or perceive any indications
of danger, she instantly sinks, and goes off to a considerable

HAWK’S-BILL TURTLE. 5

distance ; but should everything be quiet, she advances
slowly towards the beach, crawls over it, her head raised to
the full stretch of her neck, and when she has reached a place
fitted for her purpose, she gazes all around in silence. F'ind-
ing ‘all well,’ she proceeds to form a hole in the sand,
which she effects by removing it from under her body with
her hind flappers, scooping it out with so much dexterity
that the sides seldom if ever fall in. The sand is raised
alternately with each flapper, as with a large ladle, until it
has accumulated behind her, when, supporting herself with
her head and fore part on the ground fronting her body, she,
with a spring from each flapper, sends the sand around
her, scattering it to the distance of several feet. In this
manner the hole is dug to the depth of eighteen inches, or
sometimes more than two feet. This labour I have seen
performed in the short period of nine minutes. The eggs are
then dropped one by one, and disposed in regular layers, to
the number of a hundred and fifty, or sometimes nearly
two hundred. ‘The whole time spent in this part of the
operation may be about twenty minutes. She now scrapes
the loose sand back over the eggs, and so levels and smooths
the surface, that few persons on seeing the spot could imagine
anything had been done to it. ‘This accomplished to her
mind, she retreats to the water with all possible dispatch,
leaving the hatching of the eggs to the heat of the sand.
When a Turtle, a Loggerhead for example, is in the act of
dropping her eggs, she will not move although one should
go up to her, or even seat himself on her back; for it seems
at this moment she finds it necessary to proceed at all events,
and is unable to intermit her labour. The moment it is
finished, however, off she starts ; nor would it then be pos-
sible for one, unless he were as strong as a Hercules, to turn

her over and secure her.”*

* Audub. Amer. Ornith. Biog. IT.

6 CHELONIAD.

Kach Turtle has generally three layings in the season, at
intervals of two or three weeks. The eggs are perfectly
round, varying from two to three inches in diameter, The
external membrane is flexible, very white, and contains a
considerable quantity of calcareous matter. The yolk forms
in general an exceedingly delicate article of food; but that
of the Loggerhead Turtle has a somewhat musky flavour.

When the young ones are hatched, which takes place from
a fortnight to three weeks after the eggs are deposited, ac-
cording to the temperature, they have only that central part
of each scale or plate formed which is termed the areola ;
and all the concentric layers which in advanced age are seen
to constitute the principal part of the plates are added after-
wards at their margins. The shell is soft, and affords them
but little protection from the attacks of their numerous ene-
mies. In their attempts to gain the water for the first time,
numbers of them fall a prey to birds of various kinds ; and of
those which are fortunate enough to escape from this danger,
probably the greater part are seized and devoured by shoals
of fish and of crocodiles.

The different species of marine Turtles are found in all the
seas of hot climates, and they are only seen in considerable
numbers within a certain distance from the land. About the
shores of several of the West India Islands, ‘* Cuba, Jamaica,
St. Domingo ; in the Atlantic, at the Cape de Verde and
Ascension Islands ; again, in the Indian Ocean, at the Isle of
France, Madagascar, the Seychelles, &c.; at Vera Cruz, in
the Gulf of Mexico, and at the Sandwich and Gallapagos
Islands, in the Pacific,”* they are found in the greatest
abundance.

It is unnecessary, and it would be out of place here, to
enter at large upon the particular history of the different
species. Every one knows the value of the Green Turtle,

* Dumeril et Bibron, Hist. des Rept. II. p. 520.

HAWK’S-BILL TURTLE. 7

as it is commonly called, as an article of luxurious and most
nutritious food; and all the species afford a large quantity of
oil, which is employed for various purposes. But it may
not be uninteresting to offer a few observations on the parti-
cular utility of the species which is now to be described.

The Hawk’s-billed Turtle, Chelonia imbricata, is not
generally used in food, as its flesh is far from being either
so wholesome or agreeable as that of the Green Turtle ;
but the large scales with which it is covered are so mueh
employed in the arts, both for purposes of ornament and
utility, as to constitute no unimportant object of mer-
chandize. It is the substance commonly called Tortoise-
shell. For the following short account of the mode of ob-
taining and preparing it, I am principally indebted to the
admirable History of Reptiles by my excellent friends M.
Dumeril and M. Bibron.*

Although the greater number of the whole order of Tes-
tudinata have the back and sternum covered with horny
plates, or scales, it is almost exclusively those of the present
species which are applicable to the purposes just named.
The thirteen plates with which the whole upper part of the
shell is covered, are in fact much thicker and stronger, as
well as more beautifully clouded in colour, than those of any
other species ; and as they lie one over the other like the tiles
of a house, so that at least one-third of each overlaps the one
behind it, they are much larger in comparison with the size
of the individual. The scales, or plates, are in the first
place separated by the application of heat. They are sold to
the manufacturers in the rough state, in which they are un-
even, fragile, opaque, and dirty; and it is the first object of
the artificer to obviate these defects. The uneven surface,
the irregular curvature, the unequal thickness of different
parts, have all to be corrected; and not only can these ob-

* Hist. des Rept. II. p. 524, et seq.

8 CHELONIADE.

jects be readily effected, but the substance can be rendered
ductile, compressible, capable of receiving any impression,
of being carved, moulded and polished, and even extended
by soldering pieces together by means of their own substance
reduced to powder. The whole of these processes are per-
formed by means of heat.

The uneven curvature is first of all to be removed, and
the plate rendered perfectly flat. This is effected by im-
mersing it in hot water, and then allowing it to cool under
heavy pressure between smooth blocks of wood, or metallic
plates. The surface is then rendered smooth, and the thick-
ness equal, by scraping and filing away the rough and pro-
minent parts. In this way each plate receives an equal and
smooth surface. But it is in many cases desirable to em-
ploy larger pieces than can be obtained from single plates,
and two pieces are then united together in the following
manner :—The edges are bevelled off to the space of two or
three lines, and the margins when placed together overlap
each other to that extent. They are then pressed together
by a metallic press, and the whole is submitted to the action
of boiling water; and by this means the two pieces are so
perfectly soldered together, as to leave no indication of the
line of union. By the application of heat, also, the tor-
toise-shell may be made to receive any impression by
being pressed between metallic moulds.

No portion of this precious substance is lost or useless.
The filings and powder, which remain after these and the
other processes to which the shell is submitted, are placed
with any small fragments in metallic moulds, and by means of
pressure, exercised whilst they are exposed to the heat of
boiling water, they are formed into plates of any thickness
which may be required.

Such is a very hasty and general sketch of the manner in
which this beautiful substance is rendered available to the

HAWK’S-BILL TURTLE. 9

many purposes of ornament and use in which it is constantly
employed.

The history of this species as a British visitant is confined
to the mere notice of its accidental occurrence on three dif-
ferent occasions on the shores of Great Britain. Sibbald
states that he received the shell of one which ‘ came into
Orkney ;” Dr. Fleming says, ‘* I have credible testimony of
its having been taken at Papa Stour, one of the West Zetland
Islands ;” and the late Dr. Turton has mentioned an in-
stance of one which ‘in the year 1774 was taken in the
Severn, and placed in the fish-ponds of the author’s father,
where it lived till winter.”

It is found about the islands and coasts both of the Indian
and Atlantic Oceans, where it occurs in considerable abund-
ance; its flesh is said to be unpalatable, but the eggs are
considered a great delicacy. It does not generally attain to
more than one-third the size of the Green Turtle.

The shell of this species is depressed, rather longer in
proportion to its breadth than the other species, and some-
what heart-shaped. It is covered with thirteen imbricated
plates, each of which in the young state has the apex pointed;
but im older individuals this is entirely worn away. The
margin has plates, which are prominent at the posterior and
exterior angle, especially those towards the hinder part, so
as to form sharp and strong denticulations. The under side,
or sternum, has twelve plates; and there are two carine
which run through its whole length from the anterior to the
posterior margin ; these ridges, however, are worn off by age ;
but they were very evident in the individual from which
the present figures were taken, and which I had alive for a
short time in my possession. The head is rather elongated,
flattened above, and compressed at the sides in front of the
eyes, so that the beak is less arched than in any other species
of the genus. The head is covered with fourteen scales, to

10 CHELONIADE.

which, in zoological language, different names are given from
their situation. The upper and lower jaws are covered with
a horny beak, as before described; they are not denticulated
at the edges; they are sharp, and scarcely sinuous; and the
apex, both in the upper and lower, is sharp and hooked, that
of the under shutting within that of the upper. The feet do
not materially differ from those of the species generally, of the
marine form, as before described. The tail is conical, and
is so short that it does not extend beyond the posterior mar-
gin of the shell.

The colour of the upper parts is yellow, marbled or splash-
ed with a deep rich brown ; the plates of the head are brown,
often margined with yellow; the under parts of the whole
animal are yellowish white; and in the young individual
there is a spot of black occupying the areola, or nucleal spot
of the four posterior pairs of sternal plates.

LEATHERY TURTLE. 11

TESTU DINATA. CHELONIADE.

Genus, Sphargis. Merr.

Generic Character.—Body wholly without scales; covered with a leathery
skin. Feet without nails.

LEATHERY TURTLE.
TRUNK TURTLE.

Sphargis corvacea.

Testudo Mercurii, Gxsn. Aquat.II. p.1134.
»» coriacea, Linn. Syst. Nat. I. p. 350, sp. 1. Scunerp. Schildk.
p- 512. Daun. Hist. Rept. II. p. 62, t. xviii. f. 1.

Turt. Brit. Faun. p. 78.
Sphargis ,, Gray, Syn. Rept. p. 51. Dumer. et Breron, Hist.
Rept. IL. p. 560, t. xxiv. f. 2. Bonar. Faun. Ital.

Jenyns, Brit. Vert. p. 290.

Mercurialis, Merr. Amph. p.19. Russo, Hist. Nat. Eur. Merid. IIT.
p- 85. Scuiec. Faun. Japon. Chelon. p. 6, t. 1, 2, 3.

”?

Corindo coriacea, Fem. Brit. Anim. p. 149.
Coriaceous Tortoise, Pennant, Brit. Zool. III. p. 7, t. i.
Turile, Bortase, Nat. Hist. of Cornw. p. 285, t. xxvii, f. 4.

Dermatochelys porcata, Wacu. Syst. Amph. p. 133, t.1. f. 1—23.

12 CHELONIAD.

Ts remarkable species is distinguished from all the other
marine species, by the absence of horny plates upon the
body, head, and limbs ; which, instead of them, are covered
by a tough leathery skin. In this respect it bears the
same relation to the family to which it belongs, that the
different species of Trionyx do to the fresh-water Tortoises
most nearly allied to them. This skin is perfectly smooth in
the adult ; but in young specimens it is covered with hard
tubercles. The head is more acute than in the other species
of marine Turtles: it is somewhat triangular when viewed
from above, the part anterior to the eyes being narrowed ;
the jaws are of immense strength, and the edges very sharp ;
the upper one has three remarkable notches, one in the cen-
tre, which is angular, and one on each side at a short distance
from the former, which are rounded. The lower jaw is
scarcely sinuated at the margin, and the point is very acute,
and somewhat hooked, corresponding with the central notch
of the upper. The nostrils are small, and perfectly circular.
The eyes rather large, opening nearly vertically, particularly
in the younger specimens. The view of the head here given

is from a very large individual, of which the head and extre-
mities are in my collection. ‘The carapax, or dorsal shell,
has seven distinct raised carinee, or ridges, which in the adult
are sharp, and slightly toothed: in the young they are
rounded, and composed of a number of round obtuse tuber-

LEATHERY TURTLE. 13

cles. These seven ridges are equidistant, and consist of one
along the median line of the back, one on each margin of
the shell, and two on each side between the dorsal and the
marginal one. The anterior paddles are remarkably long,
being more than twice the length of the hinder ones, and
somewhat falcate ; the latter, however, are generally broader
than the former. They are covered with a perfectly smooth
skin. The tail is acute, much compressed at the sides, and
extends only to the extreme point of the dorsal shell. The
following figures of these parts are from the specimen above
mentioned.

The young individual differs from the adult more con-
siderably in this species than in any other species of the
order with which I am acquainted. Some of the peculiarities
of the former age have already been alluded to; in addition
to which may be mentioned the more full and rounded form,
the larger head, the larger and more expanded eye, and the
existence of five ridges on the sternum. ‘The eye opens al-
most vertically, which gives a peculiar and strange aspect to
the young animal. The figures at the head of this descrip-

14 CHELONIADE.

tion are from the plate in the Prince of Musignano’s “ Fauna
Italica ;” and were taken from a very young individual.

The colour of the adult is generally a full brown, with
numerous pale yellowish spots ; in the very.fine specimen in
my collection, the under side of the extremities and throat are
white, with black irregular spots, rendering them, in fact, pied.

This species, which is stated by Mr. Audubon to resort
to the Tortugas, or Turtle Islands of Florida, is later than
the other species in arriving thither for the purpose of depo-
siting its eggs. The average number laid by it, according to
the same authority, may be three hundred and fifty in two
sets. It is less cautious than the other species in choosing
the places for this important operation. ‘‘ Its food consists
of mollusca, fish, crustacea, sea-urchins, and various marine
plants.”

“The lyre,” says Sir John Hawkins, “ is the prototype
of the fidicinal or stringed species” of instruments, ‘“‘ and is
said to have been invented about the year of the world 2000
by Mercury, who, finding on the bank of the river Nile a
shell-fish of the Tortoise kind, which an inundation of the
river had left there, and observing that the flesh was already
consumed, he took up the back-shell, and, hollowing it, ap-
plied strings to it.”* This application of the dorsal shell of
a Tortoise to the construction of a musical instrument by Mer-
cury is of very general reception amongst the classical writers,
and is even mentioned by Homer in his Hymn to Mercury.
To what species of Tortoise the individual belonged, which
was destined to be the means of so much enjoyment to man-
kind in all subsequent ages of the world, it would be useless
now to enquire: but it is not improbable that the seven
ridges on the back of the present species may have given rise
to the belief that it may have been the favoured animal ;
particularly as seven strings are by some of the ancient writ-

* Harmonia Manualis, II. p. 29.

LEATHERY TURTLE. rs

ers assigned to the lyre; for Amphion is said to have ‘¢ built
the seven gates of Thebes in compliment to the seven strings
of his lyre.” This legend is neither overstrained, nor im-
probable ; for the margin of the shell would afford a very
good fastening for the strings, and the arched vault of the
back would answer the purpose of a good reverberating cavity.

This species is found in the Mediterranean, in the Atlan-
tic, the Pacific, and the Indian Oceans. My own specimen,
above referred to, was from the latter locality.

The history of its occurrence on the shores of Great
_ Britain is as follows: -— Borlase, in his History of Corn-
wall, mentions ‘‘ two of a vast size which were caught in
the mackerel nets off the coast of Cornwall, a little after
Midsummer 1756. he larger weighed eight hundred
pounds, the lesser nearly seven hundred.” Pennant states
that “a third, of equal weight with the first, was caught on
the coast of Dorsetshire, and deposited in the Leverian
Museum.” ‘This specimen, if I mistake not, is the one now
in the British Museum. ‘ The late Bishop of Carlisle in-
forms me,” proceeds Pennant, ‘‘ that a Tortoise was taken
off the coast of Scarborough in 1748 or 1749. It was pur-
chased by a family then resident there, and several persons
were invited to partake of it. A gentleman, who was one of
the guests, told them it was a Mediterranean Turtle, and not
wholesome; only one of the company ate of it, who suffered
severely, being seized with dreadful vomiting and purging.”

The following are the dimensions of the parts in my pos-
session of the large specimen to which I have before referred,
the total length of which was eight feet.

Ft. In. Lines.

Length of the head : ; Oli 4
Greatest breadth of the head . a 8)
Breadth between the orbits F 03 4
Length of the fore-paddles_. : 7) 2 LOO
Greatest breadth of the fore-paddles 0 9 6

16 : CHELONIADE.

Ft. In. Lines.

Length of the hinder-paddles . : 2) please eo
Breadth of the hinder-paddles - : 0 3878
Length of tail . 5 - : > © OSES

Supposing the neck to have been eight inches, the upper
shell would have been nearly six feet and a half in length.

Although such is the meagre total of our claim to indige-
nous species of the Testudinata, there appears to be no ob-
vious reason why many of the land and fresh-water species
should not be naturalized, or at least bred in a domesticated
state, in our southern counties. Every one knows that the
Testudo Greca, or common land Tortoise, will live for a
great number of years in this country without any particular
care; nor do I doubt that the common fresh-water species of
Europe, T'errapene Europea, might be readily introduced
here, as well as several species of Hmys from the United
States. They would probably require some little attention
for the first few winters; but I doubt not they may in a
short time be completely acclimated.

SAND LIZARD. Hla

SQUAMATA.
(SAURIA.) LACERTIDA,

pene)
ZITA
oe

wi y)

Mi; }
Wi)

Genus, Lacerta. Linn.

Generic Character.—Throat with a distinct collar. Nostrils situated towards
the outer and inferior margin of the nasal scuta. An osseous superorbital
lamina. Temples covered with scuta. Scales of the back, orbiculo-polygonal,
slightly carinated. Palate toothed.

SAND LIZARD.
Lacerta agilis. Linn.

? Lacertus terrestris anguiformis, MErrerr, Pinax, p- 161. Ray, Syn. Quad.
p- 264.

18 LACERTIDE.

Lacerta agilis, Lryn. Fn. Suec. 284.—In. cura Rerz, 289.—Syst. Nat. I.
363, n.15. Mutt. Zool. Dan. Prod. p. 36, n. 299.
Merr. Syst. Amph. p. 66, sp. 13. C.L. Bonar, Faun.
Ital. cum Icon.
5, stirpium, Daun. Rept. III. p. 155, t. xxxv. f. 2. Ducxs in An, des
Se. Nat. XVI. p. 376, sp. 3, t. Ixxvi. f. 1. 2. Jenyns,
Brit. Vert. p. 291.
», arenicola, Daun. 1. c. p. 230, t. xxxviil. f. 2.
», anguiformis, Surpparp, in Linn. Trans. XVI. p. 51.
Lezard des Souches, Davuv.1.c. M. Epw. in An. des Sc. Nat. XVI. p. 65. 83.
fovea 4, et te Ville ts Leods
Lacerta di Linneo, C. L. Bonar. l.c.

BrEcAvsE it may appear to many persons not accustomed
to the use of what are commonly termed essential generic or
specific characters, that many of those phrases by which
such characters are expressed are confined in their significa-
tion, and the characters themselves of slight value and im-
portance, it may not, perhaps, be useless, before we proceed
to describe the species, to offer a few words explanatory of
their employment, especially with reference to those groups
of animals on which the present work professes to treat. It
has always appeared to me that generic distinctions should, as
far as possible, be limited to such differences of structure as
indicate a difference in the habits of the animals. Thus, the
absence in one species, and the presence in another, of an
organ or part of an organ, the application of which is of ob-
vious or probable moment in any of the habits of life,—as,
for example, the degree of developement of the thumb in
some genera of monkeys, or the modification of the carnivo-
rous propensity in allied groups of carnivora, evidenced
by the greater or less degree of acuteness in the tuber-
cles of certain teeth,— will form good grounds for such
a distinction. Now it is evident here that what is called the
generic character is merely the phrase expressive of some
point of structure belonging to the whole group in which a
certain habit obtains. In many cases even, the most conve-
nient, or the only tangible characters of the group may have

SAND LIZARD. 19

no reference whatever to the peculiarity of habit which forms
the legitimate foundation for the generic distinction. This
will be found to be the case, for instance, in some of the
genera of saurian reptiles, and even in the generic distinction
of our only two native species ; the genus Zootoca, to which
our common Lizard belongs, being characterized, as regards
habit, by the circumstance that the species of which it is
composed are ovo-viviparous. ‘This is a character to which
the structure of any of its external organs bears no possible
relation ; but as it is found that the species having this habit
is externally characterized by some peculiarity in the form
and situation of certain little scales about the head, having,
however, no possible reference to the habit in question, such
peculiarities are employed as convenient and permanent cha-
racters by which it may be distinguished.

It must, however, be acknowledged that there are cases
in which a numerous group is found to consist of several
divisions, each of them distinguished by some point of form
or structure, the use or object of which is absolutely un-
known or unintelligible to us, and in which the habits, as far
as we know them, are not conspicuously different. For the
sake of convenience in some cases, and of consistency and
harmony of system in others, these groups may, notwithstand-
ing this uncertainty, receive with propriety a distinctive ge-
neric appellation ; but, wherever it is possible, generic groups
ought only to be formed where Nature has herself pointed
out their distinction.

The generic and specific characters of the Lacertine group
have only of late years received the degree of attention which
| they deserved. The divisions and subdivisions of this nu-
merous family had been either overlooked, or so arbitrarily
defined as to be detected with difficulty, and their value
had been greatly misunderstood. The employment of mi-

nute characters in the structure and proportions of the differ-
c2

20 LACERTIDE.

ent parts of the body, the relative dimensions of the limbs,
and the form and size of certain important scales, has, how-
ever, of late produced a greater degree of certainty, and more
accurate definition, not only in the relation of the groups,
but also in the characters of the species. One of the
most useful attempts to reduce the characters of the Lizards
to a tangible and certain rule, dependent upon differences
which, though apparently trifling in themselves, are of great
value as being constant and easily detected, was made by my
friend Dr. Milne Edwards, in a valuable paper in the six-
teenth volume of the “ Annales des Sciences Naturelles ;”
and Wagler has since that carried the principles of generic
subdivision to an extent perhaps scarcely warranted by nature.
Upon this point, however, it would be out of place here to
dwell.

The external parts from which the artificial characters of
the present group of reptiles are founded, are principally the
plates covering the head, the scales of the collar, the prae-anal
scale, those in which the femoral pores are placed, the abdo-
minal plates, and the scales of the back and tail. In order
to comprehend these characters, I here introduce an outline of
most of these parts. In the first figure, the plates of the
upper part of the head of the a
species about to be described >
are exhibited, and they are thus
designated :—a, rostral; b, na-
sal ; c, internasal; d, fronto-na-
sal; e, frontal; f, anterior pal-
pebral ; g, posterior palpebral ;
h, fronto-parietal ; 1, inter-pari-

etal; k, parietal; 1, occipital.

\

\
eee
PIE ae S\

COUT SS HAO SITIO

In the next figure, the under
parts of a variety of the same 4

species are exhibited in outline, to show the collar, the

SAND LIZARD. Q1

abdominal plates, the pree-anal plate, those which are per-
forated by the femoral pores, and the scales of the tail.

In the whole of the sub-family of Lacertina the head is
covered by the number of plates designated above, differing
only in some very trifling modifications of form. The ab-
domen is covered by broad plates, as seen in the figure,
not imbricated, or lying one over another, as are the scales
of the back and tail, but applied to each other at the mar-
gins ; and these are arranged in longitudinal rows. There is
in all the species a distinct collar, composed of several scales,
larger than those which cover the throat, and quite detached
from the plates which cover the breast, which they loosely
overlay. The scales of the back and sides are small, and
imbricated. Those of the tail are always arranged in distinct
and even whorls, are elongated and narrow, becoming more so
towards the termination of the tail. The femoral pores, as
they are termed, exist also in all the family. They consist,
probably, of very small follicular glands, each placed in a
scale, the middle of which is pierced by the opening of the
follicle. In some the scale is very little larger than the pore,
and appears almost like a minute tube ; in others the scale is

22 LACERTIDE.

larger and triangular. The use of these pores is not known.
They yary exceedingly in number, even in the same species :
in this respect, therefore, they afford no distinctive cha-
racters. . :

In some species, in addition to the teeth which are placed
in the margins of the upper and lower jaws, there are also a
few very minute ones in the back part of the palate, which
may be readily felt by a pin or the point of a penknife.
The existence or absence of these palatine teeth would, per-
haps, scarcely be admissible alone asa generic distinction ; but
when combined with others, and associated also with a
marked difference of habit, it may be admitted as a valuable,
because a tangible and permanent character. It is on this
account that I have employed it as one of the means of
generic discrimination between our two English Lizards.

I now proceed to the consideration of our first species.

It has been well remarked by the Prince of Musignano,
whose knowledge of the European Vertebrata in general, and
of the Reptilia in particular, is undoubtedly superior to that
of any other naturalist, that the Linnean term agilis has
been applied by the Zoologists of different countries to that
species of Lizard which is best known or most common in
their own. Thus the Podarcis muralis, the common Lizard
of Italy and of France, has been go called by Italian and
French writers; and our own little indigenous species, so
frequent in almost all parts of England, which I shall pre-
sently describe under its proper appellation of Zootoca vivi-
para, has hitherto received the same name from every Bri-
tish naturalist who has written on the subject. Not even
when the present handsome species was distinguished as in-
digenous to this country, was it suspected that the name
applied to the former was erroneous as so applied, and still
less that it might, in fact, appertain to this new addition to

our Fauna,

SAND LIZARD. 23

The slender knowledge possessed by Linneus of the species
of Reptilia, and his total ignorance of the value of specific
characters in this class, led him to include amongst the sup-
posed varieties of his Lacerta agilis several which have
since been ascertained to be not specifically only, but gene-
rically distinct ;—at least, according to the rigid principles of
subdivision adopted by several of our more distinguished
modern Erpetologists. As, however, the typical form of his
species thus named was indigenous to Sweden,—for he re-
fers in his great standard work, the ‘* Systema Nature,” to the
“¢ Fauna Suecica” to fix its identity,—it only remains for us to
ascertain what is the common species of that country, to fix
this doubtful and obscure synonymy.

It appears quite clear that neither of the two species which
I have before mentioned as having erroneously received the
name of Lacerta agilis can possibly be the one originally
intended by the great Swedish naturalist, as neither of them
appears to be indigenous to that country. But it is not
only highly probable, but becomes a demonstrated fact, that
the present species is the type of the L. agilis of Linneus,
when it is considered that it is a native of Sweden, and that
the short allusion—for it is nothing more—in the “ Fauna
Suecica ” is perfectly applicable to it. ‘The specific character
given by Linneus both in the “ Fauna Suecica” and the
“« Systema Nature ” is vague, and equally applicable to the
whole of the genus Lacerta as now constituted; but he pro-
ceeds to name two varieties in the following manner : —
“8 Lacertus viridis Aldrovand. ry. Lacertus dorso punctis
albis duplici serie. Var. 3 rarissima, nec mihi ipsi obvia.”
Here we have the common and the rarer green varieties of
our own species indicated, at least, with great probability.
But in the more recent edition of the same work by Retzius,
the characters are still more decidedly applicable ; and the

expression ‘ laterum ocellis nigris, pupillé alba,” is decisive.

- QA LACERTIDE.

This opinion is also corroborated by the short description
given by Otho Frederick Miiller, in his ‘* Prodromus Zoo-
logize Danicee,” of two varieties of the indigenous Lacerta of
Denmark, which he also terms L. agzlis. . The following are
his words :—* b. supra maculis nigris punctis linearibus [al-
bis*] inseriptis, subtus absque maculis. c. Supra cinereo-
fusca, punctis albis nigrisque contiguis.” These are very
accurate descriptions of the markings of different individuals
of the present species ; even the green variety, which occurs
also in this country, was not unknown to Miiller, who adds,
“¢ viridem quoque in sylva Frederichsdalensi reperi.”

From these considerations it becomes necessary to reform
the nomenclature and synonymy of our English Lizards, by
restoring the name of agzlis to the present species, to which
it originally belonged, —by abolishing altogether that of
stirpium, adopted by Mr. Jenyns from the French writers,
by whom it had been applied to this species,—and in the
case of the other and more common indigenous species; by
substituting for the name L. agzlis, hitherto applied, that of
Zootoca vivipara, which really belongs to it. The first na-
turalist who has demonstrated that the species now under
consideration is the true Linnean agzlis, is the Prince of
Musignano, who, in his beautiful ‘* Fauna Italica,” has thus
restored its true name, with the additional Italian appellation
of Lacerta di Linneo. I have lately examined many speci-
mens of both species in company with that distinguished
naturalist, and have thus had the views now stated amply con-
firmed.

As a British species, there appear to be on record several
more or less obscure allusions to it amongst former writers.

5

Merrett, in his ‘‘ Pinax,” mentions the common or vivipa-

rous species as “ L. terrestris vulg. ventre nigro maculato ;”

* The word here is originally ‘‘ nigris ;” but this is evidently a misprint.
Spots of black could not be said to be marked with black dots.

SAND LIZARD. 95

and the present one is probably intended by the phrase
“ L. terrestris anguiformis, in ericetis.” ‘These words, with
the enumeration of the different species of Newts, are copied
verbatim by Ray without acknowledgment. This, however,
is but an obscure and uncertain allusion. The first descrip-
tion of the species by any British Zoologist is that by the
Rev. Revett Sheppard, in the sixteenth volume of the Lin-
nean Transactions, in the year 1802. This gentleman adopts
the specific name anguiformis from Ray, with whom he
appears to believe it to have been original, as he was proba-
bly unacquainted with the “‘ Pinax” of Merrett. The Lizard
to which his description refers could not have been a variety
of the common species, as the latter never acquires half the
length of one specimen seen by Mr. Sheppard, which, he
says, was upwards of a foot long; and this, although cer-
tainly an extraordinary, is not an incredible length for an
individual of this species, as I have myself occasionally seen
them approaching that length, measured from the nose to the
extremity of the tail. Even the general length of Mr. Shep-
pard’s specimens was ‘‘ seven inches and upwards.” It is
true that the characters and descriptions given by this au-
thor are vague and unsatisfactory, as they refer merely to
colour; but the dimensions can scarcely admit of a reason-
able doubt on the subject. The locality mentioned by him
as its most usual resort,—namely, on heaths,—is also, as far as
it goes, a confirmatory fact.

It is to Mr. Jenyns, however, that we owe the only clear
and satisfactory published description of this species as a
native of Britain ; and his account of its characters is as admir-
able for its correctness and perspicuity as any of the other
descriptions of that accomplished author.

It is from the immediate vicinity of my own native place
that the specimens which have hitherto formed the subjects
of more recent observation have been obtained. I have been

26 LACERTIDE.

familiar with it from my childhood; and its frequency in
various parts of the sandy heaths around Poole and _ its
neighbourhood gave me, when young, numerous opportunities
of observing the remarkable difference of size between this
and the other native species ;—from which circumstance I
had, even then, often suspected that they were distinct.
Subsequently, when the prosecution of the study of Erpeto-
logy might perhaps have enabled me to distinguish them,
the opportunity of observing them had ceased, until Mr.
Jenyns, having, through Mr. Yarrell, obtained specimens
from Poole, seized, with his usual acumen, upon the
point of distinction, and speedily discovered the identity of
this species with the L. stirpium of Daudin, of Milne EHd-
wards, and of Dugés.

I shall be readily pardoned this long and somewhat dry
investigation of the synonymy of this species by every
systematic Zoologist who appreciates the importance of pre-
cision on this subject; and I now proceed to give a short
history of its habits, as far as I have had an opportunity of
observing them.

This beautiful species is found in the neighbourhood of
Poole in somewhat different situations. Its general abode is
on sandy heaths, where it is frequently seen crossing the
small bye-paths with considerable swiftness, although it is
certainly less rapid in its movements than the smaller and
more common species. The transient glance which is thus
obtained of it, ‘‘ together with its viperine appearance and
colours,” and the size and length of its body and tail, may
easily have deceived Mr. Sheppard, who says that he has
often mistaken it for the Viper when hastily passing it.
But it is also occasionally seen on the sunny sides of green
banks, basking in the sun’s rays, and retreating quickly upon
the approach of any intruder. Mr. Sheppard mentions that
he had “‘ once or twice observed it near marshes ;” and it is

SAND LIZARD. OF

occasionally seen in the small village of Hamworthy, near
Poole, in moist situations. It has been stated by a
gentleman of my acquaintance, that the brown varieties
are confined to the sandy heaths, the colours of which are
closely imitated by the surface of the body, and that the
green variety, which I have already slightly alluded to, fre-
quents the more verdant localities just mentioned. Be this
as it may,—and it is a statement which at present I can
neither confirm nor refute,—it is certain that these varieties,
mentioned by Linneus and seen by Miiller, do exist in the
place I have named, and within a comparatively short dis-
tance.

It is more timid and far less easily rendered familiar than
the beautiful Green Lizard (L. viridis) of Guernsey and the
South of Europe. This latter species may be readily tamed,
and taught to come to the hand for its food, and to drink
from the hollow of the palm of any one to whom it is accus-
tomed. It will lie coiled up between the two hands, enjoy-
ing the warmth, and not offering to escape. But it is very
different with the present species, which appears not to be
susceptible of any such attachment. It will indeed attempt
to bite any one who handles it, which I have never known
to occur with the ZL. viridis. When in confinement, it
ceases to feed, conceals itself with extreme timidity when
approached, and ultimately pines and dies.

The female lays her eggs, to the number of twelve or four-
teen, in hollows in the sand, which she excavates for the
purpose, and haying covered them carefully with sand, she
leaves them to be hatched by the solar heat. It is probable
that the eggs are laid a considerable time before they are
hatched, as I have found the female containing numerous
eggs of the full size, and apparently ready to be deposited,
and yet without the vestige ofan embryo within any of them :
there is, therefore, every reason to conclude that this species

28 LACERTID£.

never brings forth her young alive, as is always the case with
the common Lizard.

It is a northern species, rarely occurring so far south as
Italy, but sufficiently common in the northern parts of
France and the middle districts of the Huropean Continent,
and extending, as we have seen, as far north as Sweden and
Denmark.

It varies exceedingly, like most others of the Lacertine
group, in colour and marking. ‘The most common colour of
the upper parts is a sandy brown, with obscure longitudi-
nal fascie of a darker brown, and a lateral series of black
rounded spots, each marked with a yellowish white dot or
line in the centre. There is often in this most common
variety more or less of green on the sides. The following
figure is of a very beautiful individual in my collection which
was taken in the neighbourhood of Poole by my relative

(ii)

LN >
i i

Ly

ut

SAND LIZARD. Q9

Dr. Bell Salter: it is of a rich brown colour above, with a
rather lighter fascia on each side near the mesial line, and a
number of black ocellated spots, arranged almost continuously
in somewhat irregular oblique fascie, each of these spots
having a white pupil. There are in this, as in the one de-
scribed by Mr. Sheppard, about four black spots on the
head. This specimen has a remarkably short tail, and some
other structural peculiarities, which led me at first to suppose
that it belonged to a different species ; but I am now satisfied
that it is merely a variety of the present one. The compa-
rative shortness of the tail probably arises from its having
been mutilated and restored.

Another variety is that to which I have before alluded, in
which the upper parts are more or less of a green hue. In
some this colour is brighter and lighter than in others ; but
the usual colour is a rather dull brownish green. Not only
is it very probable that the passages which I have quoted
from Linneus and Miiller indicate this variety, but I cannot
help believing that all the accounts we have on record of the
supposed occurrence of the Green Lizard, L. viridis, in Ire-
land and in England, are to be referred to individuals of the
same variety of our present species, which were probably of
unusually vivid hues, and observed under all the advan-
tages of bright sunshine. Such may doubtless be the ex-
planation of the “beautiful green Lacerte” seen by Gilbert
White, “ or the sunny sand-banks near Farnham.”* The
Prince of Musignano, in his ‘* Fauna Italica,” figures a variety
with the whole of the back of a dull brick-red colour. The
under side is usually of a whitish or greyish colour, varied
with light green towards the sides, about the collar, and

* T find, by referring to my lamented friend Mr. Bennett’s edition of the
«¢ Natural History of Selborne,” that I have appended the following note to
page 114 :—“ These were probably unusually large and bright individuals of
the L. stirpium, now ascertained to be indigenous to this country.”

30 LACERTID&.

under the tail, and a few black dots scattered about those
parts.

In its general form this Lizard is much thicker and less
gracile than the more common species. The head is rather
more obtuse, the body more rounded, and the limbs stronger
and shorter. The relative proportions of the tail and the
body vary exceedingly in different individuals. As a general
rule, it may be stated that the length of the head and body
together is to that of the tail as three to four nearly ; but in-
one specimen in my collection the proportions are nearly equal,
and in that which is figured above, page 28, the tail is even
considerably shorter than the head and body; but, as has
been observed before, this may have occurred from the mu-
tilation and reproduction of that part. The legs are so
short, that when the posterior ones are brought forwards
and the anterior placed backwards parallel to the side of the
body, the hinder toes do not extend further than to the
wrist of the anterior ones; in which respect it differs re-
markably from the other species. In this, as in others, how-
ever, the abdomen of the female is proportionally larger
than that of the male. The third and fourth toe of the
fore foot are nearly of equal length; Mr. Jenyns says the
former is the longer, but in some specimens the reverse is
the case. The plates of the head* are similar in their general
form and proportions to those of most others of the genus.
The nostrils are placed near the outer or inferior margin of the
nasal plates, and nearly half-way between the anterior and pos-
terior margins. The frontal plate is elongate pentagonal ;
the anterior angle obtuse ; the lateral margins parallel, but
slightly contracted about the middle; the inter-parietal pen-
tagonal, and with a depressed point in the centre; the oc-
cipital very small. The upper eyelid with a series of very
minute scales, and the whole surface of the lower covered by

* See the figure in page 21.

SAND LIZARD. 31

similar ones; the space between the eye and the auditory
passage covered with plates, of which the two superior, lying
immediately under the parietal, are much the largest. The
scales of the upper parts of the body are round or polygonal,
and slightly, though distinctly, carinated. The abdominal
plates in six rows, the middle series narrower than the ad-
joining ones. Pre-anal plate single, of a broad pentagonal
form; the anterior margin bordered by four pairs of plates.
Femoral pores varying in number from eight to fifteen on
each side. In the specimen figured at page 28, there are
eight on one side, and nine on the other. The pores are
in this species placed in flat triangular scales; whilst in
Zootoca vivipara the scales are so round and small as
almost to form tubes. he tail is covered with numerous
distinct whorls, according to Dugés from fifty to eighty,
of elongated scales, which are longer, narrower, and more
distinctly carinated towards the extremity. The number
of whorls varies considerably in different individuals.

The following are the dimensions of one of moderate
size :—

In. Lines.
Total length . A F 5 A 7 2
Length of the head cC . é 2 Oe 9
re body . . 2 5
> tail 3 : 5 4 0
Breadth of the head. : é a Q

32 LACERTIDE.

SAURIA. LACERTID&.

yi
we py Hit
NU
LN
YN

Genus, Zootoca. Wael.
9 fo}

Generic Character.—Nostrils, collar, superorbital lamina, as in the genus
Lacerta. Temples covered with adpressed scales. Scales of the back elon-
gated and hexagonal. Palate toothless.

VIVIPAROUS LIZARD.
NIMBLE LIZARD. COMMON LIZARD.

Zootoca vivipara.

VIVIPAROUS LIZARD. 33

Lacertus terrestris vulgaris ventre nigro maculato, Merrett, Pinax, p. 169.
Ray, Syn. Quad. p. 264.

Lacerta agilis, Berxenu. Syn. I.p. 56. Suepparp, in Linn. Trans. VII.
p- 49. Fiem. Brit. An. p. 150. Jxnyns, Brit. Vert.
p- 292.

9, vivipara, Jaca. Nov. Act. Helv. I. p. 33, t. i.
Zootoca 58 Wact. Syst. Amph. p. 155.
Scaly Lizard, Penn. Brit. Zool. ILI. p. 21, t. ii.
Mas.
Lacerta edura, Suepparp,l.c. p. 50.

Enoveu has been said in the account of the former species
on the subject of the nomenclature and synonymy both of
that and of the present subject. I have there attempted to
show that the Linnean name agilis has been hitherto impro-
perly applied to this common species, and that it belongs to
our other indigenous Lizard. It remains now only to say a
few words on the identity of the present one with the
Lacerta vivipara of the younger Jacquin. An examination
of the figure in that author’s paper will show that this syno-
nymy is correct; and it is entirely confirmed by the fact of
the ovo-viviparous character of our species. The following
graphic and interesting account I copy from the paper re-
ferred to ; and as the work is comparatively little known in
this country, I make no apology for thus giving it in detail.
It is an additionally interesting circumstance that this worthy
son of so distinguished a father was only eleven years old
when these observations were made.

“In excursu botanico in Alpes vicinas, cum parente
optimo, circa finem Julii preeteriti instituto, obtulit sese mihi
forte fortuna in monte Schneeberg, Lacerta preegnans, quam
prehensam, ut servarem, capsule inclusi: preeterlapso duorum
dierum spatio cum hance iterum aperirem, en! apparet illa
onere, quod gestaverat, liberata, ac editis sex lacertis juven-
culis stipata; ovorum in capsula reliquorum vestigia ne mi-
nima quidem hac licet sollicite excussa, deprehendere licuit !

quod eo magis mirabar, quo a Cx. Mu.uEro, System. Nat.
D

54 LACERTIDE.

t. il. p. 77, traditam noveram, (quasi res esset im om-
nibus lacertarum generibus constanter observata) lacertas ova,
eaque cute seu membrana vestita, magno numero excludere
solere; cum autem neutiquam omnino vero sit simile, tam
exiguo duorum dierum spatio, non ova tantum deponi, sed et
ipsas ex his excludi potuisse lacertulas, non sine ratione con-
cludere posse mihi videbar, hasce vivas 4 matre in lucem
editas fuisse.” Mr. Gray, in his Synopsis of Reptiles in
Griffith’s Animal Kingdom, refers Jacquin’s Lacerta vivipara
to the L. muralis of Daudin and Merrem (Podarcis muralis
of Wagler) : this mistake, however, Mr. Gray has, I believe,
subsequently corrected.

It is in consonance with the remarks which I have yen-
tured to make on the real value of generic characters, and the
legitimate grounds for generic distinctions, that I have fol-
lowed Wagler in assigning a distinct appellation to the pre-
sent animal. Choosing minute and unimportant points of
external structure as what may be termed its artificial cha-
racter, it is in the peculiarity of its habits and physiology that
I rest its claim for separation from the forms most nearly
allied to it. But for this interesting peculiarity,—I mean
the fact of its being ovo-viviparous,—I should certainly have
retained it as a species of Lacerta, as I believe Mr. Gray
has recently done. Although, therefore, I have adopted
Wagler’s division of the Lacertine group as far as regards
our own indigenous species, I have done so upon very differ-
ent grounds ; and should not be disposed to follow him in
many of the artificial divisions which he has made throughout
the whole class of Reptilia.

This agile and pretty little creature is the common inha-
bitant of almost all our heaths and banks in most of the dis-
tricts of England, and extending even into Scotland: it is
also one of the few reptiles found in Ireland. On the Con-

tinent its range does not appear to be very extensive: it is

VIVIPAROUS LIZARD. 35

not found in Italy, nor, I believe, in France, and is very
probably confined in a great measure to our own latitude.
Its movements are beautifully gracile as well as rapid; it
comes out of its hiding-place during the warm parts of the
day from the early spring till autumn has far advanced,
basking in the sun, and turning its head with a sudden mo-
tion the instant that an insect comes within its view, and
darting like lightning upon its prey, it seizes it with its little
sharp teeth and speedily swallows it. Thus it will often
take a great number of the smaller insects, preferring those
of the dipterous order; though it will not refuse many of the
coleoptera or orthoptera, if they be not too large.

Instead of depositing her eggs in the sand to be hatched
by the warmth of the sun, as is the case with the former,
the female of the present species retains the eggs within the
oviduct until the young are ready to leave them, and they are
produced alive. As in all the ovo-viviparous reptiles, the
covering of the egg is very thin, and merely membranous.
Tn this respect they differ from those which deposit their eggs
before the embryo is formed. In the latter case a more
efficient protection is necessary, and the covering is either
calcareous, as in the Tortoises and Crocodiles, or of a sub-
stance resembling parchment, as those of the Snakes and
most Lizards. In the Viper, which also produces its young
alive, the covering, as in the present animal, is extremely
thin and very easily torn ; and there is reason to believe that
the laceration of this membrane and the emancipation of the
young take place in and are occasioned by the very act of
parturition.

As the young ones are occasionally found with the mother,
there is some reason to believe that these little animals are
not wholly devoid of the instinct of parental care and tend-
ance; but it is scarcely probable that the exercise of this
feeling is ever very powerful, or that it endures for any con-

pd 2

oo

36 LACERTIDE.

siderable period. The young when brought forth are fully
formed, and capable of running about, and very shortly after-
wards of taking their own food. ‘The usual number is from
three to six.

Although I have alluded to the sun’s influence as being
the means of hastening the evolution of the embryo in the
oviparous reptiles, it is not to be concluded that the same
source of warmth is unnecessary in the present and similar
instances. The only difference is, that in the ovo-viviparous
species the solar heat is communicated to the embryo
through the medium of the mother; and hence we often see
the pregnant female about the month of June constantly
basking in the sun, and lying in such a position as to expose the
body most fully to his influence. Every one who has watched
the habits of our native reptiles must have seen the same
circumstance in the gravid female of the Common Viper; and
may have observed how much more reluctantly and tardily
she leaves the genial spot than the male.

This little Lizard is much smaller and more gracile in its
form than the LZ. agilis. The head is more depressed, rather
narrower, and the muzzle more acute. The arrangement
and relative size of the plates on the head do not differ very
considerably ; but those of the temples are much smaller and
more numerous in the present than in the former. The
collar consists of nine plates, which are nearly equal; the ab-
dominal plates in six rows, the middle and outer ones nar-
rower than the intermediate. The dorsal scales are nar-
rower, more angular, and the carina less distinct than in
L. agilis: those of the tail are nearly similar. The feet
are more slender, and the toes longer in proportion. The
femoral pores, which vary less in number than in the other,
being generally nine or ten, are placed in scales which are
very different from the corresponding ones in L. agilis.
Instead of being broad, flat and triangular, and much larger

VIVIPAROUS LIZARD. 37

than the orifice of the pores, as in that species, they are
small, rounded, and so little larger than the pores, as to
appear merely as the sides of a tube. This is a very tan-
gible character, though, I believe, not before observed.
“* The following,” says Mr. Jenyns, ‘are sexual distinctions :
In the male, the tail and legs are longer in proportion to the
body ; the former is nearly (in some specimens quite) two-
thirds of the entire length: the hind-leg applied to the side
of the abdomen reaches to, or passes beyond, the carpus of
the fore-foot ; the ante-anal lamella is shorter, and broader,
or more transverse ; the under side of the base of the tail
is flattened with a slight longitudinal depression of the mid-
dle just behind the vent ; during the season of sexual excite-
ment, the base of the tail is much dilated at the sides, ap-
pearing swollen.* In the female, the abdomen is longer
and the tail shorter, the latter being often not more than
half the entire length : the hind-leg barely reaches to the tips
of the claws of the fore-foot ; the ante-anal lamella is longer
in proportion to its breadth, and of a more decided hexa-
gonal or pentagonal form ; the base of the tail is rounded,
and never dilated at the sides.”+-

The colours and markings of this species vary greatly.
The general ground colour of the upper parts is a greenish
brown, with a dark brown line down the middle of the back,
which is often somewhat interrupted; a broad fascia extends
parallel with this on each side, commencing behind the eyes,
and extending to a greater or less length down the tail ;_ be-
tween these and the former are often one or more rows of
black dots, and similar ones occur in many individuals in the

* It is in this state undoubtedly the Lacerta wdura described by Mr. Shep-
pard in the seventh volume of the Linnean Transactions, as having the tail
bulging out a little below the base, as if it had been cut off and set on again,
This was first detected by Mr. Gray, and published in the Proceedings of the
Zoological Society for 1834.

+ Jenyns, Brit. Vert. p. 293.

38 LACERTIDF.

broad lateral fascia. The under side of the body and base
of the tail in the male are bright orange, spotted with black :
in the female these parts, as well as the tail, pale greyish
green, without spots.

The usual length is from five inches and a-half to six and
a half: the head usually about five lines.

BLIND-WORM. 39
SQUAMATA.
(SA UROPHIDIA.) ANGUIDE.

Genus, Angus. Linn.

Generic Character.—Body and tail cylindrical, obtuse; scales smooth, im-
bricate, nearly equal above and beneath; head covered with about nine larger
plates ; tympanum concealed; legs none ; bones of the shoulder, the sternum,
and pelvis rudimentary.

BLIND-WORM. SLOW-WORM.

Anguis fragilis. Winn.

40 ANGUIDE.

Specific Character.—Silvery grey, a black longitudinal line extending down
the back. Seales rounded and plain.

Anguis fragilis, Lunn. Syst. Nat. I. p. 392. Mutt. Zool. Dan. Prod. p. 36,
sp. 306. Latr. Rept. IV. p. 209. Daun. Rept. VII.
p- 327, t. Ixxxvii. f. 2. Merr. Syst. Amph. p. 79.
Wact. Syst. Amph. p. 159. Gray, Syn. Rept. in Griff.
An. Kingd, p. 74. Frem. Brit. An. p. 155. Jenyns,
Brit. Vert. p. 295. Cu. L. Bonar. Faun. Ital. c. icon.

Orvet commun, Cuv. Rég. An. 2 Edit. II. p. 70.

Blind-worm, Penn. Brit. Zool. III. p. 36, t. iv. No. 15.

THE group to which the genus Anguis belongs is one of
the most interesting in its relations of all the forms of Rep-
tilia. Under external characters considerably differing from
each other,—some possessing the limbs and locomotion of true
Lizards, and others wholly devoid of external members and
moving like true Saurians,—there are in Mr. Gray’s order
Saurophidia many points of mutual affinity which prevent
the possibility of separating them from each other. From
the well-known family of the Scznks, or Scincida, with their
true legs and five-toed feet, down to the present species and
its immediate congeners, every possible gradation is to be
found in the developement of the anterior and posterior ex-
tremities. Agreeing, as they all do, in the Saurian character
of the structure of the head, the consolidation of the bones
of the cranium and jaws, and the narrow and confined gape,
so different from these parts in the true Serpents, they yet
approach the latter in the comparative length of the bodies,
and in the gradual diminution and ultimate disappearance of
the extremities. In the genus Scincus, for instance, the
limbs are already less robust than those of the true Saurians ;
the two pairs are also more distant from each other, in con-
sequence of the greater comparative elongation of the body.
There are as yet five perfect toes on each foot, which, how-
ever, are shorter and more even in their relative proportions
than in the true Saurians. These deviations become in-

BLIND-WORM. 41

creased in the genus Chalcides, and still more in Seps, which
has a very elongated body, the limbs extremely small, and
the toes only four or three on each foot. In Monodactylus
a further reduction takes place in the developement of the
limbs, which have dwindled to a mere little undivided finger;
they are still, however, four in number; but in the genus
Bipes the anterior ones have wholly disappeared, and are
found in a rudimentary state under the integument, the pos-
terior ones constituting only small undivided processes.
These also being removed, the Ophidian form of the present
genus, and those of J'ortix, T'yphlops, and others, with all
the Amphisbenida, succeed, in which the bones of the shoul-
der, the sternum, and the pelvis exist in a more or less ru-
dimentary condition ; and lead us towards the true Snakes,
in which all these parts are lost excepting the rudiment of a
posterior extremity, which in the Boa appears externally in the
form of a small horny hook, or holder, on each side of the vent.
In the Serpents, the gape, too, has assumed its extreme power
of extension, from the bones of the jaws and other parts of the
face being separate ; and in most of them the scales, which in
the former groups were similar on the upper and under parts
of the body and tail, are small and imbricated above, whilst
beneath they assume the form of broad transverse plates.
Such is a very brief account of the beautiful gradations by
which these reptiles pass from the true or typical Saurian
to the Ophidian form; and although, perhaps, it would
be more consistent with analogy to consider, with Merrem,
the whole of the scaled Reptilia as constituting one great
order, yet the union of this interesting intermediate group,
to which Mr. Gray has given the name Saurophidia from
that relation, is a legitimate and important improvement
upen the confusion in which they were left by Cuvier, who
separated animals even of the same family, and placed some
in his order “* S'auriens,” and others in his ** Ophidiens.”

42 ANGUIDE.

The structure of the common Slow-worm, then, necessa-
rily removes it from the Snakes, to which, indeed, it bears
a less close affinity than to some of the Saurians. This
structure, and the relations which it indicates, form an un-
answerable argument of the fallacy of the position, that ex-
ternal characters are in all cases sufficient to indicate affini-
ties; and show of how much importance, or rather how
essential, is the anatomical investigation of internal structure,
to enable us to arrive at the true relations of individual spe-
cies or of groups.

The Blind-worm, or Slow-worm, by which names this
species is known indifferently in this country, is found in
almost every part of Hurope, excepting the extreme north,
and is capable of enduring a much colder climate than most
other reptiles even of our own country. It is found in Rus-
sia, in Poland, in Denmark, Sweden, and Scotland, as well
as throughout the whole of the more temperate parts of
Europe, and as far south as the South of France, and Italy ;
but it has not, I believe, been seen in any part of Africa.
It makes its appearance also at an earlier season than any
other of our scaled reptiles. It retires in the autumn under
masses of decayed wood or leaves, or into soft dry soil
where it is covered with heath or brushwood, and penetrates
to a considerable depth in such situations by means of its
smooth rounded muzzle, and even polished body.

Its habits are extremely gentle and inoffensive. Even
when handled roughly, it rarely attemps to bite; and when
it is irritated so as to induce it to seize upon the finger,
the teeth are so small as scarcely to make an impression.
Of course the opinion that it is venomous is a mere yulgar
error. There are no poison-fangs in the jaw, either of this
or of any other species of the group to which it belongs.
It is so timid, that on being laid hold of or pursued, it con-
tracts itself so forcibly as to become perfectly stiff; and it is

BLIND-WORM. 43

then so fragile as to be easily broken in two either by a blow
or an attempt to bend it. Hence it acquired the specific
name of fragilis, applied to it by Linneus. This property,
however, is not peculiar to the present species: the Glass-
snake, as it is called, an American species, has derived its
name from a similar circumstance. Like the Viper, and, in
a less degree, also the Common Snake, this species is not
easily induced to feed in a state of confinement. I have
kept them repeatedly, and have offered them young frogs
and insects, but without being able to induce them to take
them. That this failure, however, was rather due to my
ignorance of their favourite food than to any disinclination
on their parts to feed in captivity, the following note by Mr.
George Daniel in Mr. Bennett’s edition of White’s Selborne
sufficiently testifies.

*< A Blind-worm that I kept alive for nine weeks, would,
when touched, turn and bite, although not very sharply ; its
bite was not sufficient to draw blood, but it always retained
its hold until released. It drank sparingly of milk, raising
the head when drinking. It fed upon the little white slug
(Limax agrestis, Linn.) so common in fields and gardens,
eating six or seven of them, one after the other; but it did
not eat every day. It invariably took them in one position.
Elevating its head slowly above its victim, it would suddenly
seize the slug by the middle, in the same way that a ferret
or dog will generally take a rat by the loins; it would then
hold it thus sometimes for more than a minute, when it
would pass its prey through its jaws, and swallow the slug
head foremost. It refused the larger slugs, and would not
touch either young frogs or mice. Snakes kept in the same
cage took both frogs and mice. The Blind-worm avoided
the water; the Snakes, on the contrary, coiled themselves in
the pan containing water which was put into the cage, and
appeared to delight in it. The Blind-worm was a remark-

44, ANGUIDE.

ably fine one, measuring fifteen inches in length. It cast its
slough whilst in my keeping. The skin came off in separate
pieces, the largest of which was two inches in length; split-
ting first on the belly, and the peeling from the head being
completed the last.”

These are interesting particulars; but it is certain that
when in a state of liberty they do not exclusively live upon
slugs, as I have found the remains of insects in the sto-
mach; and they will also feed readily on earth-worms, even
of six or seven inches long, according to the testimony of
M. de Sept-Fontaines, as quoted by Lacépede.

The last-mentioned Erpetologist, who, however, like his
colleague Buffon, was too credulous of all the stories told
him, declares that this reptile would swallow mice, small rats,
frogs, and toads. ‘This is the statement of a person who has
rather received for granted the assertions of the ignorant,
than taken the trouble to observe for himself. The fact is,
that the wholly undilateable character of the mouth necessarily
restricts it to the deglutition of such prey as can be received
within its narrow and circumscribed gape.

One very interesting point in its habits, is its being oyo-
viviparous. Like the last-described species, the Zootoca
vivipara, the young of this animal are hatched before they
come into the world; and it is probable that in this case,
as in that of the species just named, as well as in the Viper
and the Rattlesnake, the rupture of the membrane of the egg
takes place during the parturition. The female is said to go
with young about six weeks or two months: there can be
no doubt, however, that the duration of this period must
depend upon the temperature to which the animal is exposed.
They are produced in June or July. The number of young
ones produced at one birth varies from seven to twelve or
thirteen. When brought forth, they are from eighteen to
twenty-two lines in length. The young become very active

BLIND-WORM. 45

almost immediately after their birth, and soon learn to feed
upon small soft insects, and probably small worms, snails, or
~ slugs.

The shedding of its skin is performed by this species in
the same manner as by most of the true Ophidians. It is, in
fact, taken off in one piece, when the animal is at liberty and
strong enough to effect this; and, like the others, it leaves
the skin, turned inside out, attached to the brushwood, or
other substance which it has employed to entangle or secure
it as it was coming off. It is, however, stated that in some
cases it is inverted only as far as the vent, and that the tail
slips out of its covering “ like a sword out of its scabbard.”

This animal is long, and almost of equal thickness through-
out the whole length, but rather tapering posteriorly. The
body is slightly tetragonal. The head is short and small; the
eyes small, but very brilliant and quick ; the eyelids perfect,
as in the Lizards; the ears entirely covered with the integu-
ment ; the teeth are very small, and slightly hooked; the
tongue rather broad, not very extensile, notched at the ex-
tremity, but not bifid as in the true Snakes. Vertex covered
with about nine plates ; sides of the head, throat, back, sides,
belly, and tail, all covered with small and nearly equal
rounded scales, which are not carinated. The tail, which is
obtuse, is, in some individuals, not more than half the
length of the body, or even less; but in others, reaches
to nearly an equal length with the head and body. My
own observations would go to prove that this difference
in the relative proportion of these parts may in some measure
depend on sex; as we find in the Common Lizard that the
body of the female is longer than that of the male.

The general colour is brownish grey with a silvery glance ;
and there are generally several parallel longitudinal rows of
little dark spots along the sides, and, more constantly, one
along the middle of the back. In some individuals the upper

46 ANGUIDE.

part is wholly without spots or lines; the sides only being
marked with an obscure band. The belly is of a bluish black
colour, with whitish reticulations. The young ones are very
light yellowish grey above ; the sides and belly quite black ;
and there is a black dot on the vertex, and another on the
occiput,—which latter gives origin to a slender longitudinal
black line down the back.

The total length is from ten to twelve, or even fourteen
inches: the head half an inch, or a little more. The vig-
nette gives a representation of the under part of the tail, and
of the upper part of the head.

The Angurs Eryx of Linneus, the Aberdeen Snake of Pen-
nant, communicated to them by Dr. David Skene, and said
to have been taken in Aberdeenshire, was certainly nothing
more than the common Slow-worm ; and, from the deserip-
tion, can scarcely be considered even as a variety of it, so
little does it differ, if indeed it can be said to differ at all,
from its normal appearance.

RINGED SNAKE. 47

SQUAMATA.
(OPHIDIA.) COLUBRIDA.

Genus, Natrix. Laur.

Generic Character.—Head distinct, oblongo-ovate, depressed, covered with
seuta; gape wide ; body very long, nearly cylindrical, slightly depressed ; tail
cylindrical, slender ; scales imbricated, placed in longitudinal series, lanceo-
late, generally carinated ; abdominal shields simple, arched at the margin ;
caudal shields biserial.

RINGED SNAKE.
COMMON SNAKE.

Natrix t orquata. Ray.

48 COLUBRID.

Specific Character.—Above greyish olive, with several rows of alternate black
spots; beneath greenish yellow, tessellated with black (sometimes almost
wholly black; an interrupted yellow fascia across the neck, followed by two
black spots; scales lanceolate, acutely carinated ; tail about one-fourth the
length of the body.

Natrix torquata, Ray, Syn. Quad. p. 334. Frem. Brit. An. p. 156.
Jenyns, Brit. Vert. p. 296. Bonar. Faun. Ital. cum
figuris.

Coluber natria, Liyn. Syst. Nat. I. p. 380. Suaw, Gen. Zool. Il.
p- 519. Larr. Hist. Rept. IV. p. 38. Davp. Hist.
Rept. VII. p. 34, t. lix. f. 15; t. Ixxxii.f. 1. Turr.
Brit. Faun. p. 81.

5, torquatus, Lacrp. Quad. Ovip. et Serp. II. p. 147, t. vi. f. 2.

Natrix vulgaris, Laur. Spec. Med. p. 75 et 80.

Tropidonotus natrix, Kuny.— Firzinc . Prod. Faun, Aust. p. 326. Wact.
Syst. Amph, p. 179. Gray, in Griff. An. Kingd, IX.
p- 6d.

Ringed Snake, Penn. Brit. Zool. III. p. 33, t. iv. No. 13.

Coulewvre a Collier, Lacrr.1.c.

Tue family of Colubride, to which our Common Snake
belongs, is one of the most extensive of all the natural groups
of reptiles. It includes a number of generic divisions, some
more and some less strongly marked, which are found in
every quarter of the globe. They are, all of them, perfectly
free from any poisonous quality, not possessing any of those
tubular teeth or poison glands which render some other
families of Serpents so formidable. Many of the species
which, on account of the broad plates which are found to
occupy the upper part of the head, were considered as be-
longing to the genus Coluber, by Linneus and his immediate
followers, are to be referred, not to other genera only, but to
other families; as the Cobra di Capello, and the Common
Viper, for instance.

To this family, then, belong those Serpents, and those only,
which, in addition to the absence of poisonous fangs, have
the head covered with broad plates, and the under side of the
tail with divided scuta throughout its whole length, as shown
in the following figures, which are taken from the present

species.

RINGED SNAKE. 49

It is by far the most common of our true reptilia, if we
except the little Lizard, Zootoca vivipara. It inhabits all
our woods and heaths and hedgerows, especially in the neigh-
bourhood of water, feeding upon young birds, and even
eggs, or mice, and other small quadrupeds, and lizards ;
but, in preference to all these, upon frogs. I have seen
one of these voracious creatures in pursuit of a frog, which
appeared perfectly conscious of its approaching fate, leaping
with less and less power as it found its situation more hope-
less, and the crisis of its fate approaching, and uttering its
peculiar weak cry with more than usual shrillness, until at
length it was seized by its pursuer by the hinder leg, and
gradually devoured. ‘The manner in which the Snake takes
its prey is very curious. If it be a frog, it generally seizes
it by the hinder leg, because it is usually taken in pursuit.
As soon as this takes place, the frog, in most instances,
ceases to make any struggle or attempt to escape. ‘The
whole body and the legs are stretched out, as it were, con-
vulsively, and the Snake gradually draws in first the leg he
has seized, and afterwards the rest of the animal, portion after
portion, by means of the peculiar mechanism of the jaws, so

admirably adapted for this purpose. It must be recollected
E

50 COLUBRID E.

that in the true Serpents, unlike the group to which the
Slow-worm belongs, the bones of which the upper and lower
jaw are composed, are perfectly and loosely distinct from each
other, and connected only by ligaments. By this arrange-
ment not only is great dilatability of the mouth obtained,
which is also aided by a peculiarity in the structure of the
joint, but one side of either jaw is capable of acting inde-
pendently of the other ; and as the animal is gradually taking
its prey, one side of the jaws is extended forwards, and the
two rows of teeth of the upper, and the single row of the
lower, fixed into the integument; then the opposite side of
the jaws is stretched forwards in the same manner, and so on
alternately until the victim is thus gradually and often slowly
conveyed into the esophagus, and by the muscular action of
this part it is swallowed. When a frog is in the progress of
being swallowed in this manner, as soon as the Snake’s Jaws
have reached the body, the other hinder leg becomes turned
forwards; and as the body gradually disappears, the three
legs and the head are seen standing forwards out of the
Snake’s mouth in avery singular manner. Should the Snake,
however, have taken the Frog by the middle of the body, it
invariably turns it by several movements of the jaws, until
the head is directed towards the throat of the Snake, and
it is then swallowed head foremost. This process will remind
all who have witnessed the curious sight of the great Boa
taking its food, of the manner in which that enormous rep-
tile effects its deglutition, after it has, by the pressure of its
mighty sides, killed and crushed the bones of its victim.

The scene above described is one which I have often wit-
nessed; and I once saw two Snakes seize upon the same
hapless frog. As this circumstance is not unlikely to hap-
pen in their native state, it may not be out of place to men-
tion the result. On placing a frog in a large box, in which
were several Snakes, one of the latter instantly seized it by

RINGED SNAKE. St

one of the hinder legs, and immediately afterwards another
of the Snakes took forcible possession of the fore-leg of the
opposite side. Hach continued its inroads upon the poor
frog’s limb and body until at length the upper jaws of the
two Snakes met, and one of them in the course of its pro-
gress slightly bit the jaw of the other; this was retaliated,
though evidently without any hostile feeling; but after one
or two such accidents, the most powerful of the Snakes com-
menced shaking the other, which still had hold of the frog,
with great violence, from side to side, against the sides of the
box. After a few moments’ rest, the other returned the at-
tack, and at length the one which had last seized the frog,
having a less firm hold, was shaken off, and the victor swal-
lowed the prey in quiet. No sooner was this curious contest
over than I put another frog into the box, which was at
once seized and swallowed by the unsuccessful combatant.
The frog is generally alive not only during the process of
deglutition, but even after it has passed into the stomach. I
once saw a very small one, which had been swallowed by a large
Snake in my possession, leap again out of the mouth of the
latter, which happened to gape, as they frequently do imme-
diately after taking food. And on another occasion, I heard
a frog distinctly utter its peculiar cry several minutes after
it had been swallowed by the Snake. In taking lizards or
birds, it always, as far as my own observation goes, swallows
the head foremost. After it has taken its food, it usually
remains inactive for many days, not usually seeking a fresh
meal until the former one is digested. So exclusively are all
Serpents animal feeders, that they not only will not take, but
cannot digest, vegetable matters. This is shown in a very
striking manner by a fact which I have witnessed in the case of
a Boa which was in the menagerie formerly kept at the Tower.
This creature was accustomed to have fowls given to it ; and
after this food was digested, and the remains were voided,
E2

52 COLUBRID.

any corn which might happen to have been in the crop of
the fowl when it was taken, was always found mingled with
the excrement, but wholly unchanged. |

Snakes are extremely fond of water, taking to it readily,
and swimming with great ease and elegance, holding the head
and neck above the surface. It is very probable that it
resorts to the water in search of frogs.

Snakes, like most other Reptilia, shed their cuticle or
outer skin at greater or less intervals. It is a mistake to
assign a particular period to this process; some have stated
it to occur once, some twice in the summer; but I have
found it to depend upon the temperature of the atmosphere,
and on the state of health, and the more or less frequent
feeding of the animal. I have known the skin shed four or
five times during the year. It is always thrown off by re-
versing it; so that the transparent covering of the eyes, and
that of the scales also, are always found concave in the exuvie.
Previously to this curious circumstance taking place, the
whole cuticle becomes somewhat opaque, the eyes are dim,
and the animal is evidently blind. It also becomes more or
less inactive ; until at length when the skin is ready to be
removed, being everywhere detached, and the new skin per-
fectly hard underneath, the animal bursts it at the neck, and
creeping through some dense herbage, or low brushwood,
leaves it attached, and comes forth in far brighter and clearer
colours than before.

Like most Serpents, the Snake has the power of expelling
from certain glands, situated within the vent, a most disgust-
ing stinking secretion. ‘This is only done when alarmed er
irritated, or when under sexual excitement ; in the latter case
it is most probably intended as a means of directing the other
sex in the pursuit.

This species, and indeed the whole genus, is truly ovipa-
rous, depositing its eggs a considerable time before the young

RINGED SNAKE. 53

ones are hatched, and leaving them to be vivified and deve-
loped by the heat of the sun, or of a dung-heap. The eggs
are connected together by a glutinous matter, and are gene-
rally from sixteen to twenty in number. It is certainly re-
markable, considering that the normal character of the whole
class of reptiles is truly oviparous, that of our five indigenous
species of true Reptilia, the minority only should deposit
their eggs before the young are developed and hatched—the
present species, and the Lacerta agilis ; the latter, too, a
recent addition to our known Fauna.

Towards the end of autumn, or earlier, they resort to their
‘place of hibernation, in some sequestered and sheltered cor-
ner, as the hollow roots of a tree, under hedges or brushwood,
or similar places of security, where they remain, coiled to-
gether, sometimes in considerable numbers, throughout the
whole of the inclement season; and with the first return of
warmth they come forth with all the other tribes which pass
the winter in torpidity, and resume all the functions of life.

The Common Snake is easily tamed, and may be made to
distinguish those who caress and feed it. I had one many
years since, which knew me from all other persons ; and, when
let out of his box, would immediately come to me, and crawl
under the sleeve of my coat, where he was fond of lying per-
fectly still, and enjoying the warmth. He was accustomed to
come to my hand for a draught of milk every morning at
breakfast, which he always did of his own accord; but he
would fly from strangers, and hiss if they meddled with him.

It inhabits most of the countries of Europe, from Scotland
and the corresponding latitude of the Continent, to Italy
and Sicily. In all parts of England it is exceedingly com-
mon; frequenting generally places in which there is ready
access to water, and hence it is found in more humid places
than the Viper.

So much has been said of the inability of reptiles of every

54 COLUBRID E.

kind to exist in Ireland,—or at least of their non-existence
in that island, that I have endeavoured to ascertain exactly
to what extent these statements are correct. I have already
mentioned the existence of the LZ. agilis there, and with re-
gard to the present species, the following is the result of my
inquiries. fIt would appear not only that the Common
Snake is not indigenous to Ireland, but that several attempts
to introduce it have totally failed.) Mr. Ball some time
since informed me of some trials of this kind; and the fol-
lowing letter, which I have recently received from Mr.
Thompson, gives a very detailed and clear account of the
actual facts.

“* In this order (Ophidia) there is not now, nor I believe
ever was there, any species indigenous to Ireland. In the
Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal for April 1835,* it is
remarked, ‘ We have learned from good authority that a
recent importation of Snakes has been made into Ireland,
and that at present they are multiplying rapidly within a few
miles of the tomb of St. Patrick.” I never,” proceeds Mr.
Thompson, “‘ heard of this circumstance until it was pub-
lished, and subsequently endeavoured to ascertain its truth,
by inquiring of the persons about Downpatrick, (where the
tomb of St. Patrick is,) who are best acquainted with these
subjects, not one of whom had ever heard of Snakes being in
the neighbourhood. Recollecting that about the year 1831
a Snake (Natrix torquata), immediately after being killed
at Milecross, was brought by some country people in great
consternation to my friend, Dr. J. L. Drummond, I thought
this might be one of those alluded to; and recently made
inquiry of James Clealand, Esq. of Ruth Gael House (coun-
ty Down), twenty-five miles distant in a direct line from
Downpatrick, respecting Snakes said to have been turned
out by him; I was favoured by that gentleman with the fol-

* Vol. XVIII. p. 373.

RINGED SNAKE. 55

lowing satisfactory reply :—‘'The report of my having intro-
duced Snakes into this country is correct. Being curious
_ to ascertain whether the climate of Ireland was destructive
to that class of reptiles, about six years ago I purchased
half a dozen of them in Covent Garden Market in London;
they had been taken some time, and were quite tame and
familiar. I turned them out in my garden; they imme-
diately rambled away ; one of them was killed at Milecross,*
three miles distant, in about a week after its liberation; and
three others were shortly afterwards killed within that dis-
tance of the place where they were turned out; and it is
highly probable that the remaining two met with a similar
fate, falling victims to a reward which it appears was offered
for their destruction.’ ”

Such is the most accurate and authentic account which I
have yet obtained respecting this curious fact in the geogra-
phical distribution of these animals; and it certainly does
not appear that the failure of these attempts to introduce
Snakes into Ireland is to be attributed to anything connected
with the climate, or other local circumstances, but rather to
the prejudices of the inhabitants which led to their destruc-
tion, nor is there reason to believe that their absence from
Ireland is other than purely accidental.

This species grows to the length of more than three feet,
sometimes, though rarely, of four feet. The head is consi-
derably depressed, of an elegant ovate form, the back part
broader than the neck ; the gape is of the length of the head,
and slightly curved, rising posteriorly. The teeth are small,
curved backwards, and, as in all the other innocuous Snakes,
arranged in two series on each side of the jaw both above
and below. Plates of the head broad and flat ; labial plates
seven. ‘Tongue long, excessively flexible, bifid to about one

* This was the one before alluded to, as having been brought to Dr. Drum-

mond.
>

56 COLUBRIDE.

third its length. Body very long; the median line of the
back elevated ; the neck narrowed; the tail very tapering,
moderately pointed at the extremity, occupying generally
about one-fifth of the entire length. Scales of the back oval,
imbricated, each having a distinct carina, those of the sides
broader and with the carina less marked, and becoming al-
most obsolete. Abdominal plates broad, transverse, in num-
ber about one hundred and seventy ; subcaudal plates from
sixty to sixty-five pairs.

The upper parts of the body and head are of a light
brownish grey with a green tinge, sometimes approaching to
a dull, pale olive. he labial plates separated by distinct
black lines. Behind the head, on the upper part, is a broad
collar, or two lunate spots of a bright yellow colour, and
immediately behind these are two broad transverse spots of
black, which are also sometimes separate, at others confluent.
T'wo rows of small black spots arranged alternately down the
back, and larger ones at the sides; all of which vary in size,
as well as in the degree of their approximation to each other.
Abdomen of a dull pale bluish, or plumbeous colour, in
many specimens marbled with black.

The female, as in all Ophidians, is always much larger
than the male.

RINGED SNAKE. 57

Coluber Dumfrisiensis. Sowerb.

Many years since a small Snake, having the characters of
one of the Colubride, was taken by Mr. J. W. Simmons,
near Dumfries. It was published as a new species by Mr.
Sowerby in his British Miscellany, and figured in the third
plate of that work. It was there named Coluber Dumfrist-
ensts. The specimen remained until within the last few
years in the possession of Mr. Sowerby’s family ; but having
come into my hands, it was unfortunately lost or mislaid, and
I have never since been able to recover it. There is, I
think, great reason to believe that it was a very young Na-
trix torquata, but differing certainly in many respects from
the usual appearance and characters of that species. It was
about three or four inches in length ; ‘* of a pale brown co-
lour, with pairs of reddish brown stripes from side to side,
over the back, somewhat zigzag, with intervening spots on
the sides.” The most remarkable peculiarity mentioned,
however, is that “the scales are extremely simple, ‘not ca-
rinated.” The abdominal plates were one hundred and
sixty-two ; those under the tail about eighty. This is all
the information at present possessed respecting the species, if
it be indeed a species. Mr. Jenyns, in his excellent Manual,
expresses the opinion which I have given above, that it is
‘< probably an immature variety of the common species.”

See Sowerby’s Brit. Miscell. p. 3, t. ii.; also Loudon’s
Mag. Nat. Hist. II. p. 488, where the original figure is
copied.

58 VIPERIDE.

SQUAMATA.
(OPHIDIA.) VIPERID&.

Uf
)

Uf

Genus, Pelius. Merr.

Generic Character.—Head depressed, oblong-ovate, somewhat compressed
before, and wider behind the eyes ; vertex covered with scuta ; no pit between
the nostrils and eyes ; tail with double plates beneath.

COMMON VIPER.
ADDER.

Pelius Berus.

COMMON VIPER. 59

Specific Character.—Brown, with a series of confluent rhomboidal black
spots along the back.

Vipera, Ray, Syn. Quad. et Serp. p. 285.
Coluber Berus, Lun. Syst. Nat. I. p.377. Laur. Spec. Med. p. 97. Suaw,
Gen. Zool. III. p. 365, t. ci. Turton, Brit. Faun. p. 80.
Vipera ,, Daun. Hist. Rept. VI. p. 89.
», ‘vulgaris, Larr. Rept. III. p. 812.
», communis, Leacu, Zool. Miscell. III. t. vii. Frem. Brit. Anim. p. 156.
Jenyns, Brit. Vert. p. 297.
Pelias Berus, Merrem, Syst. Amph. p. 148,sp.1,.8. y. Bonar. Faun.
Ital. cum. fig.
Vipére commune, Daun. l.c. (an Cuv.?)

Viper, Pennant, Brit. Zool. III. p. 26, t. iv.
Var. B.

Red Viper, Racxert, in Linn. Trans. XII. p. 349.

Coluber chersea? Linn. Syst. Nat. p. 337.
Var. y.

Blue-bellied viper, (Coluber ceruleus,) Suerr. in Linn. Trans. VII. p. 56.
Var. 3.

Black Viper, Lracu, Zool. Misc. loco cit.

Txe Common Viper is happily the sole British represen-
tative of any of the poisonous groups of Serpents, and indeed
the only poisonous reptile indigenous to this country. It is
far more numerous in Scotland than the Common Snake, and
is found in abundance in all parts of England and Wales,
frequenting heaths, dry woods, and banks. In Ireland it
has never been seen; and it may, almost with certainty,
be stated that it does not exist there. On the continent of
Kurope it is extensively distributed, being found from the
northern parts of Russia to the south of Italy and Spain.
It is everywhere deservedly feared on account of its venom,
which, although less virulent than that of many other species,
is yet sufficiently so to produce severe symptoms, and some-
times, in the warmer climates, even fatal results. In this
country I have never seen a case which terminated in death,
nor have I been able to trace to an authentic source any of

60 VIPERID&.

c

the numerous reports of such a termination, which have at
various times been confidently promulgated. At the same
time the symptoms are frequently so threatening, that I
cannot but conclude that in very hot weather, and when not
only the reptile is in full activity and power, but the con-
stitution of the victim in a state of great irritability and
diminished power, a bite from the Common Viper would
very probably prove fatal. ‘The remedies usually employed
are the external application of oil, and the internal adminis-
tration of ammonia.

The poisonous fluid is perfectly innocuous when swallowed.
Dr. Mead, and others, have made this experiment, and
never experienced the slightest ill effects from it. It is,
however, clear that there would be danger in swallowing it,
were any part of the mouth, the throat, or the cesophagus,
in a state of ulceration, or having an abraded surface.

It will not perhaps be wholly uninteresting to describe
briefly the very beautiful apparatus* by which the poison
wounds are inflicted, which render these, and so many other
Serpents, so formidable. On each side of the upper jaw,
instead of the outer row of teeth which are found in non-
venomous Serpents, there exist two or three, or more, long,
curved, and tubular teeth, the first of which is larger than
the others, and is attached to a small moveable bone, arti-
culated to the maxillary bone, and moved by a muscular
apparatus, by which the animal has the power of erecting it.
In a state of rest the fang reclines backwards along the mar-
gin of the jaw, and is covered by a fold of skin; but when
about to be called into use, it is erected by means of a small
muscle, and brought to stand perpendicular to the bone.
The tooth itself is as it were perforated by a tube, the mode
of formation of which was not understood until it was de-
monstrated by Mr. Smith in the Philosophical Transactions
for 1818. This tube, although completely enclosed, except-

* See page 65.

COMMON VIPER. 61

ing at its basal and apical orifices, must be considered as
formed merely by the closing round of a groove in the ex-
ternal part of the tooth itself, and hence not in any way
connected with the inner cavity of the tooth, in which exists
the pulp upon which the substance of the tooth is formed.
The base of the tooth, and consequently the basal orifice of
the tube just described, is embedded in a sac, into which the
poison is poured from the ducts of the glandular struc-
ture by which it is secreted, and which is believed to re-
present the parotid gland of the higher vertebrata. The
poisonous fluid itself is inodorous, tasteless, and of a
yellow colour. It is secreted in greater quantity, and its
qualities are more virulent in a high temperature than in
cold. Its secretion may be greatly increased by local irri-
tation ; as is evidenced by the following fact. Some years
since I was dissecting very carefully and minutely the poison
apparatus of a large Rattlesnake, which had been dead for
some hours; the head had been taken off immediately after
death ; yet as I continued my dissection the yellow poison
continued to be secreted so fast as to require to be occasion-
ally dried off with a bit of rag or sponge; I believe that
there could not have been less altogether than six or eight
drops at the least.

When the animal inflicts the wound, the pressure on the
tooth forces a small drop of the poison through the tube ;
it passes through the external orifice, which is situated on
the concave side of the curved tooth, and is in the form of a
slit. The manner in which the blow is inflicted is as follows.
The animal generally throws itself in the first place into a
coil more or less close, and the anterior part of the body is
raised. The neck is bent somewhat abruptly backwards, and
the head fixed almost horizontally. In an instant the head is,
as it were, launched by a sudden effort towards the object of
its anger, and the erected tooth struck into it, and withdrawn

62 VIPERIDE.

with the velocity of thought. It is found by experiment
that the effect of subsequent wounds is greatly diminished
either by the diminution of the quantity of venom, or by
some deterioration of its strength; so that if a venomous
Serpent be made repeatedly to inflict wounds, without al-
lowing sufficiently long intervals for it to recover its powers,
each successive bite becomes less and less effective. A gen-
tleman of my acquaintance had some years since received a
living Rattlesnake from America. Intending to try the
effects of its bite upon some rats, he introduced one of these
animals into the cage with the Serpent ; it immediately struck
the rat, which died in two minutes. Another rat was then
placed in the cage; it ran to the part of the cage farthest
from the Serpent, uttering cries of distress. The Snake
did not immediately attack it ; but after about half an hour,
and on being irritated, it struck the rat, which did not exhi-
bit any symptoms of being poisoned for several minutes, and
died at twenty minutes after the bite. A third, and remark-
ably large rat, was then introduced into the cage. It exhi-
bited no signs of terror at its dangerous companion, which,
on its part, appeared to take no notice of the rat. After
watching for the rest of the evening, my friend retired, leay-
ing the serpent and the rat together ; and on rising early the
next morning to ascertain the fate of his two heterogeneous
prisoners, he found the Snake dead, and the muscular part of
its back eaten by the rat. I do not remember at what time
of the year this circumstance took place, but I believe it was
not during very hot weather.

Although there is no reason to believe that the Viper em-
ploys this powerful means of destruction for the purpose of
disabling its prey before it is finally seized; but, on the con-
trary, all the observations which have been made upon its
mode of feeding, tend to show that, like the Snake, it seizes
its prey at once, and immediately begins to swallow it ; yet it

COMMON VIPER. 63

is not at all improbable, considering how instantaneously the
poison begins to affect small animals, that even in the act of
seizing a mouse or bird, or any other victim, it may instil
a sufficient quantity of venom into its system to paralyze
and presently destroy it. Still the action by which it takes
its prey is very different from that which it employs in its
defensive attack, and resembles that employed by the in-
nocuous tribes. Its favourite food consists of the smaller
mammalia, field-mice, shrews, and similar little animals, of
frogs also, though less commonly, and occasionally of birds.
It does not always confine its voracity within the limits of its
powers of deglutition; for I have in my possession a specimen
of a small Viper which was taken on Poole Heath in Dor-
setshire, in a dying state, in the act of attempting to swallow
a mouse which was too large for it, the skin of the neck
being so distended as to have burst in several places.

The Viper, like many others of the poisonous groups of
Serpents, is ovo-viviparous. I have concluded, from the
examination of many specimens both of this species and of
the Rattlesnake, that it is in the act of parturition that the
membrane of the egg is burst. I have examined several in
which the young have appeared ready to be excluded ; but
have always found the investing membrane entire, although
so thin and soft as to be torn by the slightest force. I give
a figure of the young Viper in this state, the membrane

64 VIPERID£.

having been removed. It is coiled up so closely as almost
to appear like a solid mass ; but no sooner is it emancipated
than it assumes all the activity and virulence which belong to
the species. If a female Viper about to bring forth her young
be killed, and the young ones set at liberty by opening the
abdomen, they will immediately crawl about, and on being
irritated will throw themselves into an attitude of defence.

A certain degree of temperature, varying in the different
classes, is requisite for the developement of the embryo.
In the mammalia this temperature is afforded by the standard
heat of the body of the parent, within which the young is
brought to perfection ; in birds it is also, with few excep-
tions, communicated by the parent, but by means of incu-
bation, or sitting on the eggs after they are excluded from
the body ; in the reptilia, on the contrary, it is communicated
solely by the surrounding atmosphere ; and this is equally the
case whether the eggs are deposited before the growth of the
embryo has commenced, or the young are perfected within
the mother, and brought forth alive. In the latter case, as
I have already observed, when speaking on the develope-
ment of the young of the common Viviparous Lizard,
- Zootoca vivipara, it is by the exposure of the body of the
mother to the sun’s rays that the necessary degree of heat is
obtained ; and hence during the period of gestation it is very
common to see the pregnant female Viper lying, as it were,
all abroad, with flattened body, basking in the sunshine; and
at this time she is much less easily disturbed, and more tardy
of flight than the male. The number of young produced at
each birth varies from twelve to twenty, or even more.

The Viper, like the other reptilia, seeks a secret and secure
place in which to hibernate during the cold months of the year.
Here several are found entwined together, and in a very tor-
pid condition; and if at this period a Viper be made to wound
an animal with its poison-fang, no injury is likely to result

COMMON VIPER. 65

from it; the poison either does not exist at all, or it is
inert.

~ It frequents dry sandy heaths and waste places, not re-
quiring, like the Snake, the neighbourhood of water, nor
swimming so readily as that species. In many parts of the
country it is even more common than the Snake.

The name Adder, by which it is known in many parts of
England and Scotland, is anciently written nedre, and after-
wards eddre, the initial » being dropped. It is from the
Anglo Saxon nedre,—nether, lower,—from its creeping po-
sition, and the name was applied to all the Serpent tribe.
The word Viper, Latin Vipera, is derived from its viviparous
habit.

The head is somewhat depressed, almost oval, slightly
widening behind the eyes. Gape as long as the head, as-
cending behind. No teeth in the upper maxillary bones,
excepting the poison-fangs ; a row of small teeth in the pala-
tine bone on each side. Neck rather smaller than the back of
the head, from which the body increases to nearly the middle
of the entire length ; the rest of the body to the vent scarcely
diminishing ; the tail becoming almost abruptly smaller, and
tapering to its extremity, which is pointed ; the tail varies in
its proportion to the body, but is generally not more than
one-eighth of the total length, and in some even less. The
head is covered with small squamous plates, which in some

F

66 VIPERIDE.

specimens are regularly formed and symmetrically placed ;
but in others they are very irregular. There are three which
are larger than the others,—namely, the vertical, and the pair
of occipital plates. The scales of the back and sides are
semi-oval, or somewhat lanceolate, imbricated, and distinctly
carinated. They are disposed in eighteen series. The
plates of the abdomen have nothing particular in their form ;
they vary in number, but usually consist of about one hun-
dred and forty to one hundred and fifty, and those of the tail
are about thirty-five pairs.

The general ground colour varies considerably. In some
it is nearly olive, in others a rich deep brown, and in others
a dirty brownish yellow; and when in high health, and
shortly after having cast the skin, the surface is slightly
iridescent in particular lights. A mark between the eyes, a
spot on each side the hinder part of the head, and a zigzag
line running the whole length of the body and tail, formed
by a series of confluent rhombs, as well as a row of small
irregular triangular spots on each side, all of a much darker
hue than the ground colour of the body, and frequently
almost black. I have a specimen in my collection which I
received alive from Hornsey Wood, the ground of which was
almost perfectly white, and all the markings jet black. The
under parts are plumbeous in some, with lighter or darker.
spots, in others almost wholly black.

The tendency of this species to vary in its colours has
occasioned an erroneous multiplication of species by various
authors. Some of the more remarkable and conspicuous
varieties I proceed to describe.

COMMON VIPER. 67

The first is the Red Viper (V. communis, var. (3 of Mr.
Jenyns), described by my venerable friend the Rev. Thomas
Rackett, in the twelfth volume of the Linnean Transactions.
It was found by him in Cranbourne Chase in Dorsetshire,
in which county I have also obtained it from Poole Heath.
It varies much in the brightness and intensity of its colour.

The specimen which I here figure, and from which I give
the following description, was taken in the neighbourhood of
Fordingbridge, in Hampshire, and was kindly forwarded to me
by Dr. Thackeray, Provost of King’s College, Cambridge, by
whom I am informed that, of great numbers of Vipers which

Fr 2

68 VIPERID&.

are annually destroyed in that neighbourhood, about one in
ten are of the present variety.

The ground colour is a dull brick red, with the usual
markings of the Common Viper, of a ferruginous brown, or
mahogany colour. The marks on the head are very similar
in form; but the V mark is somewhat more divergent than
is usual in the common variety. The throat is white, tinged
with ferruginous red, and the belly is ferruginous grey, with
minute whitish dots, and a few larger dots of reddish brown.
The round spots on each side of the back are rather more
distinct, and somewhat smaller than in the common sort ;
there are also a few irregular reddish white spots along the
sides of the neck ; the upper lip is white, barred with brown.
The only striking peculiarity in its form is the greater pro-
portionate breadth of the head behind the eyes, which in this
specimen is equal to the length of the gape. |

The plates of the abdomen are one hundred and fifty ;
those of the tail thirty-three pairs. The following are the
dimensions of the specimen here figured :—

In. Lines.
Total length : 5 5 . - 10 0
Length of the tail : . . : 1
Length of the head ; : - . One
Breadth of the head. . : = 0 4

A specimen has been particularly described by Mr. Strick-
land, in the sixth volume of Loudon’s Magazine of Natural
History, in the following words :—“ Of a bright ferruginous
red, with zigzag markings down the back, resembling in form
those of the Common Viper; but instead of being black, or
dark brown, they are of a deep mahogany colour; also a series
of irregular spots of the same colour along each side; the
zigzag line terminates at the back of the head in a heart-
shaped spot, placed between two converging dark-coloured
bands, which meet on the top of the head, and again diverge
towards the eyes; belly ferruginous like the back.” Mr.

COMMON VIPER. 69

Strickland adds the fact which, I have mentioned above, that
the head is much broader and shorter than that of the
Common Viper. The Prince of Musignano figures, in his
Fauna Italica, as the true Chersea, a small Viper, consider-
ably similar to our Red Viper, excepting in its colour, which
is a light grey, with darker markings. There is in that
figure, also, the greater breadth of head which is observable
in our animal, together with a still more obtuse rostrum.
The Prince’s figure is evidently taken from a young animal,
which may possibly belong to a different species. He terms
the V. Berus, ‘‘marasso palustre,” and his V. Chersea,
“< marasso alpino,”—a distinction certainly not sustained by
our two varieties. After all, the question whether it be
the Coluber Chersea of Linneus, and whether, if not so,
this last-mentioned species be distinct from the Common
Viper, is one of considerable doubt and obscurity.

The second variety (var. y of Jenyns), is described as
a distinct species by the Rey. R. Sheppard in the Linnean
Transactions, under the name of Coluber ce@ruleus, or Blue-
bellied Viper. It scarcely even deserves to be considered
as a distinct variety, as the plumbeous belly by which
it is characterized is rather a difference of degree than of
hue.

70 VIPERIDE.

The Black Viper, of which I give a figure, drawn from a
very fine living specimen, now before me, obtained, and
obligingly lent me, by Mr. Combe, is the var. 3 of Mr.
Jenyns. It has been figured, though but badly, and de-
scribed by Dr. Leach, in his Zoological Miscellany. It is
evidently a variety only of the present species, and is of a
fine rich black colour, excepting under the jaw and throat,
which is of a dirty white; the usual markings of the species
may be seen, in particular lights, of a more intense black than
the ground colour.

I have to add a fourth variety, from the specimen in

’

COMMON VIPER. yi |

my possession, already mentioned, which I obtained from
Hornsey Wood. The ground colour was of an uniform
dirty white, and all the markings were of a deep full
black. It was, when living, one of the most beautiful of the
species I have ever seen, and offers a remarkable contrast to
the black variety.

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72

AMPHIBIA.

INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS.

Tue doctrine of continuous affinities could scarcely re-
ceive a more striking illustration in the animal kingdom than
is afforded by the interesting group constituting the Amput-
BIA of modern authors. Intermediate in their structure, and,
in many forms, in their habits and mode of life also, between
the fishes and the true reptiles, they bear a still more inter-
esting relation to these classes, in that remarkable change
which many of them undergo at a certain period of life by
which they become transformed from the nature and habits of
the former, to those of the latter class; and thus exhibit in
their own individual life a beautiful and complete example
of transition of organization ; a subject which constitutes
one of the most important theories connected with the higher
departments of Zoological science. To any person capable
of appreciating the interest attached to the study of physiolo-
gical phenomena, the contemplation of an animal which at
one period of its life is endowed exclusively with the organs
of aquatic respiration, resembling the gills of fishes, with
means of locomotion adapted only to a constant residence in
the water, and with a digestive apparatus fitted exclusively
for the assimilation of vegetable food, assuming by degrees
the function of atmospheric respiration, acquiring limbs which
are formed for leaping on land with great strength and agility,
and manifesting the most voracious carnivorous appetite, will
not only excite feelings of the deepest admiration, but ne-
cessarily lead to the investigation of the laws by which such

INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 13

extraordinary changes are governed, and of the relations which
they bear to the theory of continuous affinity before alluded
to, and to that of progressive developement through the
whole of the animal kingdom. That such phenomena are
exhibited by the typical forms of this class will be sufficiently
established by the slight sketch of their structure, habits,
and developement, which will presently be offered.

The AmpursiA have by many zoologists been considered
in the light of an order of the class Reptilia ; but the charac-
ters by which they are distinguished appear to me to be suf-
ficiently marked and important to justify their separation as
a distinct class. They may be characterised as ‘+ vertebrated
animals with cold blood, naked skin, oviparous reproduction,
and most of them undergoing a metamorphosis, having refer-
ence to a change of condition, from an aquatic to an atmo-
spheric medium of respiration.” ‘ The class has been va-
riously divided into groups, according to the different views
of the naturalists by whom they have been arranged. The
division adopted by many zoologists of the present day, ac-
cording to the mere presence or absence of the tail in the
perfect state, is not only liable to the objections which be-
long to all merely dichotomous arrangements, but appears to
be far less natural and less consistent with the physiological
characters of the groups than that which is derived from the
absence or presence and the duration of the branchie. Thus
the Frogs and Toads, which in the adult state have not the
vestige of a tail, and the Salamanders and Tritons, which
retain that organ through life, all agree in the early posses-
sion of branchiz, which are subsequently lost and replaced
by true lungs, and in undergoing consequently a total change
in the medium of their respiration ; whilst the Proteus and
the Stren retain their branchiz with lungs, (rudimentary, at
least,) and probably throughout life possess synchronously the
two-fold function of aquatic and atmospheric respiration.

74 AMPHIBIA.

The Amphiuma and Menopoma have not as yet been ob-
served to possess branchiz at any period of their existence,
though further observations are necessary to warrant the con-
clusion of the absolute non-existence of a metamorphosis in
those genera.”*

As it appeared to me that no one arrangement hitherto
given had sufficiently distinguished the different forms, I
proposed, in the article just quoted, the following modifica-
tions as more consistent with the diversities of structure in

the different groups.

Crass AMPHIBIA.
Order I. ANOURA.

Body short and broad. Feet during the tadpole state
wanting ; afterwards four, the hinder ones long, and formed
for leaping. Tail before the metamorphosis long, com-
pressed ; afterwards totally wanting. Ribs wanting. Ver-
tebree few and anchylosed. 'Tympanum open. Respiration
at first aquatic by branchiz, afterwards atmospheric by lungs.
Branchie at first external, but withdrawn within the chest
before the metamorphosis. Impregnation effected externally
during the passage of the ova.

Genera. Rana, Hyla, Bufo, &c.

Order I]. vuRopeE.a.

Body long, slender. Feet always four. Tail long, per-
sistent. Ribs very short. Vertebree numerous and move-
able. Respiration at first aquatic by external branchize, which
are never concealed within the chest; afterwards atmospheric

* See the article ‘‘ Amphibia,” by the author of the present work in Dr.
Todd’s Cyclopadia of Anatomy and Physiology.

INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 15

by cellular lungs. Tympanum concealed. Impregnation
effected by sexual contact, at least in most instances.
Genera. Salamandrina, Salamandra, Molge.

Order IJ]. AmpuHirPNeuvsTA.

Body elongate, formed for swimming. Feet either four or
two anterior only. Tail compressed, persistent. Respira-
tion aquatic by means of branchiz throughout life, co-exist-
ing with rudimentary lungs. Branchie external, persistent.
Kyes with palpebree.

Genera. Proteus, Stren, Menobranchus, &c.

Order IV. ABRANCHIA.

Body long, formed for swimming. Feet four. Cranium
solid. ‘Tail compressed. Respiration by means of lungs
only. Branchiz none. No metamorphosis known.

Genera. Menopoma, Amphiuma, &c.

Order V. APpopaA.

Body elongate, slender, arguiform. Feet none. Tail
very short, almost wanting. Lungs one larger than the
other. (The existence of branchie at any period of life un-
known.) Ribs very short. Sternum wanting. Ears con-
ceaied. Impregnation probably internal.

Genus. Cecilia.

I do not offer this arrangement either as wholly original,
nor as absolutely natural ; but it appears to me to be less
objectionable than the others which have been proposed.

It is exclusively to the first and second order that the few
Amphibia which are indigenous to this country belong ; and
I shall confine my observations on the general characters of
the class, and on their physiological peculiarities, to

76 AMPHIBIA.

those points which may be illustrated by a reference to our own
native species. The most striking external character by
which the whole of these animals are distinguished is the
naked skin. Whilst all the true Reptilia are covered by
some hard and corneous or, at least, coriaceous modification
of the cuticle, which appears in the form of plates, as in the
Crocodiles and Tortoises, and in that of scales, as in the
Lizards and Serpents, the Amphibia have no vestige of
such a structure ; the skin being in all cases soft and smooth,
and in many instances always more or Jess moist. Some of
them, as the Salamanders and the Toads, have a number of
cutaneous glands which secrete a viscid fluid, which is said to
be more or less acrid and irritating. This is most conspi-
cuous in the common Salamander of Europe, which when
irritated will often throw out from these glands a quantity of
such white and tenacious fluid. Now the acrid quality of
this secretion forms the sole ground for the reputed poison-
ous character of these animals; for it is a well-ascertained
truth that not one of them possesses any organ by which
poison can possibly be communicated. The cuticle is fre-
quently shed, and in various modes, according to the habits of
these species. Thus the cuticle of the Frog and the Water
Newt comes off in shreds in the water; whilst that of the
Toad is removed at once by the exertions of the animal,
comes away whole, and is swallowed at one gulp. Of this
very curious fact the details will be found in the description
of the common ‘Toad.

But the most interesting circumstance connected with the
functions of the integuments of these animals, or indeed with
any part of their economy, is their cutaneous respiration ; or,
in other words, the power which the surface of the skin pos-
sesses of effecting those changes in the blood which are
usually performed by the lungs or branchia. It was ascer-
tained by Spallanzani, that the skin of the Frog gave out

INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. rr

carbonic acid when in contact with the atmosphere ; but the
subject had never undergone that strict and philosophical in-
vestigation by which all its important bearings should be
ascertained, until Dr. William Edwards of Paris entered
upon the inquiry, the results of which he published in his
admirable work ‘‘ On the Influence of Physical Agents on
Life ;” than which there does not exist in the whole range of
physiological literature a more perfect example of the manner
in which a physiological inquiry ought to be imagined, planned,
and conducted, and its results reasoned upon, and described.
As I have endeavoured in the article already quoted, to give a
short sketch of the principal results of Dr. Edwards’s expe-
riments, I shall now merely offer a somewhat modified quo-
tation from that article, rather than enter at length into the
detail, which, however interesting the subject may be to the
physiologist, would be out of place in the present work, and
would be unnecessary to those who alone could appreciate it;
for where is the physiologist who has not read and admired
the original work itself ?

The existence of cutaneous respiration in the Frog was
proved by the simple experiment of tying a piece of bladder
over the head so tightly as to prevent the possibility of com-
munication with the lungs, so as indeed to produce complete
strangulation. The Frogs were then placed under water ;
and on examining the air contained in the vessel after an hour
or two, a sensible quantity of carbonic acid was detected.

On placing Frogs in vessels filled respectively with river
water, and with water which had been deprived of air by
boiling, and inverted over the apertures contained in the
shelf of a pneumatic trough, containing about ninety-eight
pints, those in the latter lived on the average little more than
half as long as those in the aérated water. On trying the
effects of submersion under stagnant water frequently re-
newed they lived two months and a half, and then died from

78 AMPHIBIA.

accidental neglect of changing the water. The results of
placing them under running water were similar. In this case
they were confined in a sort of cage, and sunk in a river.
The effects of temperature in all these experiments were
amongst the most curious and interesting circumstances con-
nected with the inquiry. ‘These results prove that the dura-
tion of life under water is in an inverse proportion to the
elevation of the temperature from 32 degrees to about 107,
at which point the animals die almost instantly. But these
effects of temperature were found to be modified by an in-
crease of respiration, whether by their rising to the surface
and breathing the atmosphere, or by the quantity of aérated
water being increased.

Such is a slight glance at the results obtained with refer-
ence to the cutaneous respiration carried on through the me-
dium of aérated water; and those connected with the atmo-
spheric respiration of the same surface are no less conclusive.
Six Frogs were taken for one of the experiments, and a liga-
ture tied with the most rigid compression round the neck, so
as to exclude any possible passage of air. One of these lived
twenty days in a damp atmosphere, whilst those which were
placed in five ounces and a half of water, died as soon as all
the air contained in that water was respired, which was in
from one to three days. Another experiment of correspond-
ing tenour was performed by the total excision of the lungs ;
and of three Frogs thus treated, two died on the thirty-
third, and one on the fortieth day.

The results of other experiments proved that pulmonary
respiration alone is not sufficient to support life without the
aid of that of the cutaneous surface.

It is very clear that this important function cannot be car-
ried on unless the surface be constantly kept in a moist state.
The branchiz of fishes and of crustacea, and the lungs of all
pulmoniferous animals, equally require that the respiratory

INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 9

surface in every modification should be humid ; for as soon as
it becomes dry, its function ceases, and the animal speedily
dies. But as the Frog, for instance, is frequently exposed
to adry atmosphere, it is essential that there should be some
provision made for a constant supply of moisture to the
skin, which has just been shown to be a respiratory surface.
This is effected precisely as in other surfaces which perform
this function,— namely, by a secretion of fluid from the sur-
face itself. The extent of the skin is, however, so great that
the whole internal moisture of the animal would speedily be
exhausted, unless a reservoir were provided for an extraor-
dinary demand; and I now proceed to show what this reser-
voir is, and by what means it is replenished. Every one
knows that when a Frog is hastily seized, or even quickly pur-
sued, it voids a considerable quantity of water, which is gene-
rally, but erroneously, supposed to be the urine. This water
is limpid and pure, containing no traces of the usual compo-
nent elements of the urinary secretion. It is contained in a
sac, which has also been mistakenly believed to be the urinary
bladder. This is the reservoir to which I have alluded
When, therefore, the Frog is happily placed in a damp at-
mosphere, or in water, the skin absorbs a quantity of water,
which there is every reason to believe is secreted into the
bladder just mentioned, where it is kept in store until the
dryness of the skin requires a supply for the purpose of respi-
ration, when it is again taken up, and restored to the sur-
face by which it had been first absorbed.

There can be no doubt that this cutaneous respiration is of
much more frequent occurrence in animals having naked and
moist skin than has hitherto been ascertained; and it is ex-
ceedingly probable that it will be found to take place, not
only in all the aquatic amphibia, but in the mollusca, and
many others, having integuments of a similar character.

Allusion having already been made to the metamorphosis

80 AMPHIBIA.

of the typical Amphibia, I shall here offer a few general re-
marks upon this most remarkable phenomenon. In the
whole of the tribes of Frogs, Toads, and Newts, or, in other
words, in the two orders Anoura and Urodela, the young
animal, as it emerges from the egg, and for a considerable
time afterwards, exhibits a form and structure essentially
similar to those of fishes. ‘The organs of respiration and of
circulation differ in no important point from those which exist
in that class, and their mode of aquatic progression is abso-
lutely identical. Ata certain period of their growth a gra-
dual change takes place in the structure and function of each
of these systems, during which the little pisciform creature
is gradually assuming the general characters of the reptile
type. I shall here offer a few illustrations of the changes
which take place in each of these systems, giving the detail
of the various modifications which take place in the different
groups, when describing each form.

The swimming of fishes is effected by the powerful lateral
motions of the tail and posterior part of the trunk, and the
numerous short oblique masses of muscle, which constitute the
greater proportion of the bulk of those parts, are admirably
adapted for the performance of these powerful and rapid
movements. Such is the use, too, to which the long and
powerful tail which belongs to the Tadpole is applied; and
the wriggling motion given to this organ, by which the little
animal is propelled through the water, by successive lateral
impulses, is similar to that by which fishes are propelled. In
the Anoura this is totally removed by absorption, and gives
place to the extensive and interesting developement of the
anterior and posterior limbs, particularly of the latter, which
are equally adapted for leaping with great force on the land,
or for a rapid and equal propulsion through the water. In
the Urodela, as the Newts, for instance, this original mode
of progression continues throughout life, and the feet which

INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 81

are ultimately added to the animal’s organization, are ex-
tremely small and feeble, serving only for awkward and im-
perfect progression on land, or along the bottom of the water.

The organs of circulation undergo a no less striking and
far more important change. In the first instance the heart
is single, but the circulation is complete. The blood, after
its systemic circulation, is received from the veins by a single
auricle, and is immediately propelled by a fleshy ventricle to
the branchial arteries, of which one goes to each leaf of the
gills or branchiee. From the branchial capillaries, the aérated
blood is received by the branchial veins, which unite to form an
aorta without the intervention of a second ventricle. Every
tyro in comparative anatomy will at once perceive that this is
an exact description of the circulation in fishes; and yet it is
taken from that of the Tadpole of the Newt. I shall not enter
here into a detail of the changes which take place in the various
vessels, by which the branchial vessels become obliterated or
altered in their course, and minute branches are augmented
in volume, and enter upon new functions ; such details could
only be understood by the experienced anatomist, and would
be out of place. It is sufficient to say, that by the dilatation
of one vessel a second auricle is produced ; that from the last
branchial artery a small branch passes to the air sac, or ru-
dimentary lung, which ultimately becomes the pulmonary
artery ; and that by other no less astonishing alterations, the
transformation of the branchial into the pulmonary circula-
tion is effected, and the heart assumes its new character of
a trilocular cavity; possessing, that is to say, two auricles and
a single ventricle, by which the blood which is sent to the
lungs, and that which is distributed to the system at large,
is alike of a mixed character, as in the true Reptilia.

The respiratory organs are no less surprisingly modified
during the progress of the changes just described in those of
circulation. The total loss of the branchize, which are re-

G

82 AMPHIBIA.

moved by absorption, and the developement of the little ru-
dimentary air sac, so exactly analogus to the air-bag of fishes,
into the most beautiful cellular lungs, are changes which, but
for the ocular demonstration to which they are yearly sub-
mitted, could scarcely be believed. Into the anatomical
details of the steps by which these changes take place, it is
not my intention to enter; but the general developement of
the new organs, both of these functions and of that of pro-
gression, will be given in the account of each different form.

We find then that these typical forms of the Amphibia
become essentially altered during the progress of their growth
in all their principal systems of organization ; in the nervous,
the circulating, the respiratory, the digestive, and the repro-
ductive organs: nor does reproduction ever take place in
these animals until the other changes have been perfected.
But in the perennibranchiate forms, as the Stren, the Pro-
teus, &c. it seems as if the metamorphosis were stopped sud-
denly at that period when the lungs begin to be developed,
before the branchiz have at all diminished in size or in ac-
tivity of function. The reproductive organs, however, go on
to their full developement, and the animals never undergo
any further change of form or habit, but continue throughout
life to breathe both the atmosphere by their air cells, and
water by their branchiz, as well as either medium indifferent-
ly by means of their skin. In a word, the pulmonary, the
branchial, and the cutaneous modes of respiration are in these
curious animals going on simultaneously, although there can
be no doubt that the branchial is the most essential to their
well being, and the pulmonary the least so.

Enough has probably been said on the general physiology
of these animals ; for it would not consist with the object of
this work to enter more minutely into the details of this part
of the subject ; but to the physiological enquirer, few classes
of animals present a more extensive or interesting field of

INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 83

investigation. After all that has been done, much remains
yet to be ascertained, in the functions both of the earlier and
the adult state of their existence, and in the phenomena of
their transformation.

The species which belong to the British Fauna are more
numerous than they have generally been supposed to be. Of
the true Frogs we have two, of the Toads two, and of the
Newts three, even excluding the T'riton vittatus of Mr. Gray,
which is doubtless a variety of the common species, and
the British habitat of which appears to be doubtful. For
the accurate distinction of the known species, we are in-
debted to my kind and valued friend Bibron, to whom Zoo-
logists owe incomparably the most complete work on Er-
petology that has ever appeared, and to which I have had

previous occasion to allude.

84 RANIDE.

ANOURA.

RANIDZ.

Genus, Rana, Linn.

Generic Character.—Skin smooth, hinder legs very long, formed for leaping ;
the toes palmated. Teeth on the upper jaw, and on the palate.

COMMON FROG.

Rana temporaria. Linn.

Specific Character.—Reddish, or yellowish, or greenish brown, with an ob-
long brown spot behind the eyes ; the legs with brown fasciz.

Rana temporaria, Linn, Syst. Nat. I. p. 357. Frem. Brit. An. p. 158.
Jenyns, Brit. Vert. p. 300.
»» aquatica, Ray, Syn. Quad. p. 247.

o>) used, Roset. Hist. Nat. Ran.
Common Frog, Penn. Brit. Zool. III. p.9. Suaw, Gen. Zool. III. p. 96,
teexxIXe

Grenouille rousse, Cuv. Reg. Anim.

COMMON FROG. 85

Ir in the natural system of animals we must look for the
typical representative of any group in that form in which the
distinctive characters of the whole group are most obviously
and unequivocally developed,—a test insisted upon, I be-
lieve, by all who have even professed to believe in the ex-
istence of such types of form,—it is in the family Ranide
that we may expect to find the typical character of the pre-
sent class of animals; and the truth of this test is not in-
validated by the absurd and even ludicrous instances of its
breach, of which some of the most strenuous asserters of the
principle have been guilty. To apply to this test only one
or two of the structural or physiological peculiarities of the
class. The most remarkable and important of all is the
change, which has already been mentioned, from the con-
dition of a fish to that of a reptile; and in this respect, whilst
we must consider the permanent pisciform condition of the
Proteus, the Stren, and others, which retain their branchial
respiration throughout life, as an abnormal form leading to-
wards the fishes, and the Cecilia, on the other hand, as probably
approximating the Ophidian Reptilia; the caducibranchiate
groups—and especially the present family—exhibit the phe-
nomena of this metamorphosis to the greatest extent, the
change which they undergo being certainly more complete
than that of any of the other forms. The cutaneous respi-
ration is another peculiar characteristic of the class; and
there is no doubt that this function also is enjoyed by the
Frogs in the highest degree.

The innocent and very useful species about to be de-
scribed, is one of the most common of our vertebrated ani-
mals. It is found in almost all parts of this island, wher-
ever there is a river or a pool, or even sufficient shade to
maintain the degree of moisture necessary to preserve the
respirable condition of the skin; for the presence of a con-
siderable quantity of water, although requisite for the deve-

86 RANIDE.

lopement of the young, is not so for the existence and health
of the perfect animal.

Of the existence of the Frog in Ireland, very erroneous
opinions have been entertained. I need not again allude to
the legend of St. Patrick’s extirpatory malediction against
the whole race of reptiles; but it is worthy of observation, _
that even of late years, the beliefthat Frogs, in common with
Snakes, could not live in that favoured island was very ge-
neral. The truth, however, is, that this species is not only
now an inhabitant of that place, but, as will appear by the
following extract, has been so since the very beginning of the
eighteenth century. I owe the knowledge of this passage to
my friend W. Ogilby, Esq. who communicated it to me in
the following letter :—

“« The following is the extract from Swift’s work of which
I some time since spoke to you, concerning the introduction
of Frogs into Ireland. It occurs in a tract styled, ¢ Consi-
derations about Maintaining the Poor,’ which, though with-
out date, I fancy from the context, and other collateral
evidence, must have been written about the year 1726.
Among the public grievances of which he complains, he
rather singularly mentions the practice of insuring houses in
English offices ; which, it appears, was then becoming com-
mon in Ireland. ‘A third,’ [absurdity] says he, ‘is the In-
surance Office against fire, by which ‘several thousand
pounds are yearly remitted to England, (a trifle, it seems,
we can easily spare,) and will gradually increase till it comes
to a good national tax; for the society-marks upon our
houses, (under which might be properly written, ‘ 'The Lord
have mercy upon us,’) spread faster and farther than a
colony of Frogs. 'To this passage, one of Swift’s editors,
I believe Sheridan, adds the following note :—‘ This simili-
tude, which is certainly the finest that could possibly have
been used upon the occasion, seems to require a short ex-

COMMON FROG. 87

planation. About the beginning of the eighteenth century,
Dr. Gwythers, a physician, and fellow of the University of
Dublin, brought over with him a parcel of Frogs from Eng-
land to Ireland, in order to propagate the species in that
kingdom, and threw them into the ditches of the University
park, but they all perished. Whereupon he sent to Eng-
land for some bottles of the Frog spawn, which he threw
into those ditches, by which means the species of Frogs was
propagated in that kingdom. However, their number was so
small in the year 1720, that a Frog was nowhere to be seen
in Ireland except in the neighbourhood of the University
Park ; but within six or seven years after, they spread thirty,
forty, or fifty miles over the country, and so at last by de-
grees over the whole nation.’ What credit may be due to
the note I will not take upon me to determine, though it
appears perfectly circumstantial, and given upon the editor’s
personal knowledge ; but Swift’s own notice proves indisput-
ably the fact of the introduction, and the period about which
it took place.”
The respiration in this animal is, as has already been
stated, both pulmonary and cutaneous. The former func-
tion, that of breathing by lungs, is effected not by successive
alternations of contraction and dilatation of the chest,—a
movement which, as the Frog possesses no ribs, is impossi-
ble,—but by the act of swallowing air, as in the case of the
Testudinata before described. The mechanism by which
this act is performed is precisely the same in both cases; the
air is inhaled through the nostrils by the dilatation of the
pharynx, the esophagus being closed to prevent its passing
into the stomach; then the posterior openings of the nos-
trils being also closed by the application of the tongue, the
pharynx is contracted, and the air forced into the lungs.
These organs are of considerable size, lying on each side of
the anterior part of the vertebral column; they consist of

83 RANIDE.

large cells separated by the most beautifully delicate diapha-
nous parietes. From this peculiarity in the respiration, it
follows that it can only be performed when the mouth is
closed ; and that if the mouth be gagged open, the animal
soon perishes from the cessation of pulmonary respiration.

The ordinary voice of the Frog is too well known to
require particular description. It is termed croaking, and is
principally heard during the season of sexual excitement. In
the spring every one has heard the neighbourhood of ponds
and ditches, where these animals abound, resounding with
their loud yet not disagreeable notes. When great numbers
are congregated together, the noise heard at a considerable
distance is far from being unmusical, and, when associated
with the return of the genial season, and the calm of a still
mild evening, is far more pleasant and soothing than many
a more fashionable and dearly-bought musical entertainment.

The food of the Frog usually consists of various kinds of
insects, and of the small species of slug. So voracious are
its habits during the whole of the season at which it feeds,—
for, like other cold-blooded terrestrial animals, it passes the
cold part of the year in entire abstinence,—that it might
become a most important assistant to the gardener or the
farmer in the destruction of those pests of the respective objects
of their culture which I have just named. It will swallow
large coleopterous and other insects whole, and will take
several of them at a meal. ‘The quantity of insects and of
slugs, indeed, which would be destroyed by encouraging
these animals, instead of wantonly and unnecessarily perse-
cuting and killing them, would be advantageous to a much
greater extent than could at first sight be believed. This
consideration ought surely to weigh even with those who are
inaccessible to the appeals of humanity, in favour of this in-
nocent and much-persecuted race.

The manner in which the Frog takes its food is very inter-

COMMON FROG. 89

esting. Asin the Toad, the tongue is doubled back upon
itself when at rest ; and being embued with a viscous secre-
tion at the extremity, it is suddenly thrown forwards upon
the insect, which, being caught by the adhesive matter upon
it, is instantly drawn into the mouth by the sudden return
of the tongue to its former position, and is then swallowed.
This is but the work of an instant ; and, indeed, is performed
with such rapidity, as scarcely to be detected without careful
watching.

Like the rest of the Amphibia and the Reptilia, the Frogs
retire, on the approach of winter, to their hibernating re-
treats, where they pass the dreary season in a state of absolute
torpidity. This is generally in the mud at the bottom of
the water, where they are not only preserved in a nearly
equal temperature, though at a low degree, but also secured
from external injury. Here they congregate in multitudes,
embracing each other so closely as to appear almost as one
continuous mass. On the return of spring they separate from
each other, emerge from their places of retirement, and re-
commence their active life by exercising the important
function of the reproduction of their species. Here we enter
upon the most interesting scene in the history of these
animals ; for it is here that the peculiar characters which
distinguish them from all other forms, are most strikingly
shewn; and I shall, therefore, enter somewhat in detail into
the different steps of the developement of the embryo, and of
the changes which take place in the structure and habits of
the young animal as it advances towards its perfect con-
dition.

The impregnation of the female Frog is effected in a pecu-
liar and very remarkable manner. Whilst in the reptilia,
as in most of the superior vertebrate animals, as well as in
many of the lower classes, the application of the vivifying
fluid to the ova, is rendered certain by actual insertion within

90 RANIDE.

the body previously to their expulsion,—and in the fishes,
this is effected after their actual depositions,—in the Frog it
takes place during the passage of the eggs from the body of
the parent. As the season of spring advances, the renewal
of active existence after its temporary suspension is evinced
by the most energetic action of the procreative orgasm.
The male Frog leaps on the back of the female, and grasps
her behind the arm-pits with his fore legs, for which purpose
a temporary developement of a warty protuberance takes
place on the thumbs, by means of which his hold is rendered
more firm and secure. So powerful is this instinct of adhe-
sion, that instances are not unfrequent of male Frogs seizing
upon and remaining firmly attached to the surface of large
fishes, from which they have not been detached without con-
siderable force. Izaak Walton quotes a passage from an
ancient writer which appears to refer to a fact of this kind.
‘** But before I proceed further,” says honest Izaak, ‘‘ I am
to tell you that there is a great antipathy betwixt the pike
and some Frogs; and this may appear to the reader of Du-
bravius (a Bishop in Bohemia), who, in his book of Fish and
Fishponds, relates what, he says, he saw with his own eyes,
and could not forbear to tell the reader, which was—‘ As he
and the Bishop of Thurgo were walking by a large pond in
Bohemia, they saw a Frog, when the pike lay very sleepily
and quiet by the shore side, leap upon his head; and the
Frog having expressed malice or anger by his swoln cheeks
and staring eyes, did stretch out his legs, and embraced the
pike’s head, and presently reached them to his eyes, tearing

7”)

with them and his teeth those tender parts. It appears by
the sequel that the bishop’s fisherman assured him that
‘* pikes were often so served.” Now, although there is evi-
dently here much of the exaggeration which may naturally be
expected from the astonishinent of ignorance, yet there is no

reason to doubt that the main facts are true. It happens,

COMMON FROG. 9]

too, that the sex of the Frog is incidentally and unwit-
tingly furnished by the writer by his mention of the ‘‘ swoln
cheeks,” which he attributes to the creature’s malice against
his formidable enemy.

I have often heard my father relate an instance of a similar
fact, though with somewhat more adherence to the simple
truth of the case. As he was walking in the spring on the
banks of a large piece of water at Wimpole, the seat of Lord
Hardwicke, he observed a large pike swimming in a very slug-
gish manner near the surface of the water, having two dark-
coloured patches on the side, which he thought must be occa-
sioned by disease. A few days afterwards he saw the same
pike floating dead upon the surface of the water, and having
drawn it to land by means of a stick, he found that the dark-
coloured masses, which he had observed on the former occa-
sion, were two living Frogs, still attached to the fish, and
that so firmly, that it required some force to push them off
with the stick. There can be no doubt that the diseased
state of the pike facilitated the approach and adhesion of the
Frogs, to which they were primarily impelled by the sexual
instinct before mentioned.

During the cohesion of the two sexes, then, the female
commences the deposition of the spawn, which is fecundated
during its passage. When first expelled it consists of nu-
merous small opake globular bodies, enveloped in a small
glairy, or glutinous mass. This latter substance soon absorbs
a large quantity of water, and, in the course of an hour or
two, each becomes not less than a quarter of an inch in dia-
meter. The consequence of this augmentation in the bulk of
the transparent mass, surrounding each embryo, is, that all
the latter are removed from each other by a whole diameter
of each globe ; and they appear like black dots regularly dis-
tributed throughout a large mass of transparent jelly.

The deposit of the eggs takes place at the bottom of the

92 RANID®.

water, notwithstanding the assertion of some naturalists, and
of Résel amongst them, that they are expelled at the surface.
The mistake, probably, arose from the mass of eggs being
generally found at the surface; but this arises merely from
the disengagement of gas in the substance of the glairy en-
velope, in consequence of partial decomposition.

The changes which now begin to take place in the embryo
are most interesting. They have been detailed in a very
minute and satisfactory manner by Rusconi in his work, al-
ready alluded to; and I have taken considerable pains during
the last spring to follow out his investigations, and by
actual observation to correct or confirm his account. I
may here observe, once for all, that with the exception of
a few of the details in the earliest periods, I have been
able to satisfy myself of his correctness; and in those
points, I believe that I only failed to do so, partly by my
not having obtained the ova immediately after their expul-
sion, and partly by the want of time to enter into all the
necessary minutie of the investigation.

I have also to observe that the developement of the young
is more or less rapid, according to the temperature of the
atmosphere ; and that I was enabled to retard or hasten it by
regulating this circumstance. I therefore kept my reservoir
of eggs in a very cold situation, and occasionally brought a
few of them into my drawing-room for the purpose of ob-
servation; in which place, being in an elevated temperature,
the developement became very rapid. As my object, there-
fore, was to ascertain positive facts, rather than the periods
of the changes, which were dependant upon variable circum-
stances, I kept no register of the temperature or of the pe-
riods; and I shall, in both these particulars, give some of
the statements of the accurate Rusconi.

COMMON FROG. 93

The embryo is found, in the first place, to consist of a
small globular body, one side, or hemisphere, of which is of
a dark brown colour, the other being much paler. In a very
short period after the egg is deposited,—four hours, accord-
ing to Rusconi,—a deep furrow across the dark hemisphere
divides it into two equal parts, and this is soon afterwards
crossed by another at right angles ; a third and a fourth fur-
row are produced, and so on, until the whole surface of this
side of the sphere is, as it were, granulated. This appear-
ance, however, is but transitory, the surface soon becoming
almost smooth. In the course of the second day, the sphere

94 RANIDE.

begins to elongate, and a groove, which had previously di-
vided the upper part of it into two equal parts, begins to
close up. ‘The head becomes prominent, the tail begins to
show itself, the little hooks by which it subsequently lays
hold of objects and supports itself, begin to appear. At this
period the examination becomes more easy, and more inter-
esting. At somewhat more than fifty hours in an elevated
temperature, the head is very well marked, the tail some-
what elongated, and even the rudiment of the membrane,
or web, which is destined to form its fin, is visible. About
this time, also, a small projection takes place on each side of
the head, which is the earliest indication of the branchie, and
the muscles of the spine may just be seen. In figure 2
of the woodcut, I have given an outline of the embryo in
this condition. At this time the water is seen to flow ina
distinct and rapid current to the branchial orifice over the
rudiments of the branchiz, which are now just visible, the
course of which current I have indicated by arrows. These
parts gradually become more developed ; the body is more elon-
gated, the branchie more distinct ; the fin extends round the
tail and partly over the back; and the head is distinguished
from the body by a slight contraction at the neck; and a
short period more suffices to bring it to the condition repre-
sented in figures 3,4, of the woodcut, in which the branchiz
are seen to consist of two tubercles on each side, as yet sim-
ple and undivided; the holders, which are small simple
organs placed near the situation of the future mouth, and
which serve to enable the little animal to attach itself by
means of a viscid secretion at their extremities, have become
longer, the web, or fin, is also enlarged. By this time the
first voluntary motion of the embryo is discovered on the
application of any means of excitement or disturbance ; but
it consists only of a slight movement of the head or tail.
The nostrils are seen more distinctly, but the mouth is

COMMON FROG. 95

scarcely yet observable, and shortly afterwards the eye, ina
rudimentary state, may be just discerned. The next step
in the developement is a slight division of the branchiz into
lobes, and the appearance of that beautiful and interesting
phenomenon, the circulation of the blood through these
organs. The embryo, which is still confined to a curved posi-
tion by the envelopes (fig. 1), is now seen frequently to extend
itself by sudden jerks, as if to emancipate itself from its con-
finement, which it eventually does by tearing the membrane
of the egg. The Tadpoles, we see, are now hatched (fig. 5).
According to Rusconi, this takes place within four days after
the deposit of the eggs, in a temperature varying only from
23° to 27° Centigr. (73°.4 to 80°.6 Fahr.) ; but certainly in
our own climate, in the ordinary temperature of our spring, it
does not take place until at least a month. As I before
observed, the developement may be greatly hastened by a
constant elevation of temperature, and I was often surprised
at the degree to which this was the case in the course of my
own observations; but the comparatively low temperature of
our spring, and the cold frosty nights which occur in March
and April, may well account for such a discrepancy. If the
eggs be deposited at the middle or latter end of March, it is
generally, with us, the latter end of April before they are
hatched. The situation of the mouth is now distinctly
visible, though the opening is but small; and even when it
becomes considerably enlarged it has no power of movement,
and there are no distinct lips. The branchiz now speedily
enlarge, and each of the two branches on either side is seen to
consist of about four leaves (figs. 6.9); these are sessile upon
the body or stem of the branchia; they are somewhat granu-
lar on the surface, and slightly irregular in their form ; there
is also frequently a short additional branch at the base of the
posterior one, as is shown in the outline, figure 9. The
present state of these organs, which have now arrived at their

96 RANIDE.

maximum of developement, constitutes one of the most
charming objects for microscopic observation which can be
conceived, and to view which a very high power is not ne-
cessary, nor even desirable. 'The current of the blood poured
in regular pulsations at each contraction of the heart, passes
up each stem or main branch of the branchiz, and a distinet
stream is given off to each leaf; it is propelled to the ex-
tremity, and then returns down the opposite sides in the
most regular manner, and the parts are so transparent that
every globule of blood is distinctly and beautifully visible.

This state of things, however, is destined to last but a
short time. No sooner have these interesting organs attain-
ed their greatest developement than they begin to diminish
in size; they become obtuse (fig. 7), and are gradually so
reduced as to be withdrawn within the branchial cavity, and
concealed by a little operculum of the integument. The
eyes are now perfectly formed. The holders have become
much diminished in size; the mouth has acquired moveable
lips, and has changed its position from the inferior part of
the head to near the extremity, and the little creature which
has hitherto derived its sustenance either from its own re-
sources or by absorption, now seeks its food amid softened and
decomposing vegetable matter. The caudal web (fig. 8) has,
therefore, become considerably developed, and serves for very
rapid as well as varied locomotion. The colour of the body,
too, has undergone a considerable change, having become of
a soft olive green, the abdomen being dotted with golden
yellow.

The Tadpole now undergoes but little change in its ex-
ternal form for a considerable time, but increases rapidly in
bulk, and by and by a little tubercle appears on each side of
the vent, which is the rudiment of the posterior extremity ;
this soon acquires somewhat the form of the perfect limb, the
toes budding, as it were, at the extremity, but it still con-

COMMON FROG. 94

tinues very short, even in proportion to the diminutive size
of the animal (fig. 10). Meanwhile the anterior extremities
are also budding forth in the same manner, and gradually
assume their distinct and final form.

As the hinder extremities become developed, the tail, the
former organ of progression, is removed by absorption, not
thrown off, as has been erroneously stated. This is a gra-
dual process, the absorption beginning at the apex, and pro-
gressing onwards to the base, until the whole is removed ; so
that the posterior part of the body becomes rounded, and the
cloacal opening, instead of being placed beneath, is directed
somewhat upwards. Fig. 11 exhibits the young Frog with
a small portion of the tail still remaining unabsorbed.

Rusconi complains of having had considerable difficulty
in ascertaining the proper food for the Tadpoles, so as to
preserve them in health during his observations on their de-
velopement. He found, however, by accident, that they
would thrive upon the green sediment which results from the
agitation of decayed vegetable matter in water; and I have
succeeded completely in keeping them on the decaying vegeta-
ble matter without any artificial preparation. In their more
advanced period, but still before the growth of the extre-
mities, they fed indifferently upon animal or vegetable sub-
stances, actually gnawing away the substance of almost any
kind of leaf that was placed in the vessel, as soon as it be-
came softened. I have reason to believe, also, that they
often killed their own companions as soon as these, by the
acquisition of their limbs, had nearly assumed their ultimate
form. Suspecting this, I placed in a large glass globe of
water, several Tadpoles, more or less nearly approaching
their final change, and I observed that almost as soon as one
had acquired its limbs it was found dead at the bottom of
the water, and the remaining Tadpoles feeding upon it.
This took place with all of them successively, excepting the

H

98 RANID.

last, which lived on to complete its change, and for a consi-
derable time afterwards.

The little animal has now undergone its complete deve-
lopement; and having become capable of respiring air by
true lungs, and of progressing with great freedom on land by
means of its hinder legs, it comes on shore to feed on small
insects and worms. Such multitudes of these newly per-
fected little beings are often found in damp weather enjoy-
ing their new scene of existence, as to have given rise to
many a story of its having rained Frogs ;—a fable which is
still devoutly believed in many parts of the country. They
now grow with great rapidity during the remainder of the
year, until the approach of winter warns them to betake
themselves to their places of hibernation. But, in the mean
time, thousands of them have fallen a prey to their numerous
enemies ; even in the Tadpole state they are devoured by
hosts by the different species of newts, and small fishes , and
when adult, by pikes, and others of the larger species of fish,
many by the smaller carnivora, such as the weasel and the
polecat, and many by almost every species of water-fowl,
as well as by the Common Snake, of which they constitute
the principal food. Such is the destruction which thus takes
place amongst them at different periods of their growth, that
probably not one in a thousand that had emerged from the
egg in the spring, ever reaches its winter retreat.

That the Frog is susceptible of being tamed to almost as
“great a degree as the Toad, is proved by the following anec-
dote, for which I am indebted to my friend, Dr. William
Roots, of Kingston, who informs me that he ‘* was in pos-
session for several years of a Frog in a perfect state of do-
mestication. It appears that the lower offices of his house
were what is commonly called underground, on the banks of
the Thames. That this little reptile accidentally appeared

COMMON FROG. 99

to his servants, occasionally issuing from a hole in the skirt-
ing of the kitchen, and that during the first year of his so-
journ, he constantly withdrew upon their approach ; but from
their showing him kindness, and offering him such food as
they thought he could partake of, he gradually acquired
habits of familiarity and friendship ; and during the following
three years he regularly came out every day, and particularly
at the hour of meal-time, and partook of the food which the
servants gave him. But one of the most remarkable features
in his artificial state of existence, was his strong partiality
for warmth, as during the winter seasons, he regularly (and
contrary to the cold-blooded tendency of his nature) came
out of his hole in the evening, and directly made for the
hearth in front of a good kitchen fire, where he would con-
tinue to bask, and enjoy himself until the family retired to
rest.

**There happened to be at the same time a favourite old
domestic cat, and a sort of intimacy or attachment existed
between these two incongruous inmates; the Frog frequently
nestling under the warm fur of the cat, whilst the cat ap-
peared extremely jealous of interrupting the comforts and
convenience of the Frog. This curious scene was often wit-
nessed by many besides the family.”

In its general form it is more slender than the Toad, though
less so than many species of true Frog. The head forming
half an oval, or nearly so; the snout rounded; the mouth
horizontal, linear; the gape very wide, extending as far as
the posterior margin of the orbit; teeth placed in a single
row in the upper jaw and on the palate, very minute; none
in the lower; tongue soft, fleshy, spatula shaped and
notched, the anterior portion folded back upon the posterior
when not in use; eyes elevated above the forehead. The
back is generally flat, excepting at the setting on of the

H 2

100 RANIDE.

pelvis, where it is sometimes a little raised. The fore feet
are of moderate size and length, with four toes, of which the
third is slightly the longest, the second notably the shortest,
as is probably the case in all the true Fregs; hinder legs very
long, and very muscular, extending to more than half as long
again as the body ; hinder toes five in number, long, slender,
palmated, the fourth toe being by much the longest. Skin
naked, smooth. The male is smaller and more slender than
the female.

The changes which the colour of the Frog undergoes both
in intensity and in hue, from the variation of temperature,
the presence or absence of light, and the influence of fear,
and perhaps of other causes of mental excitement, although
certainly much less striking and considerable, are scarcely less
varied than those exhibited by the chameleon. The causes
of these changes has not, I believe, been examined, but the
subject well deserves a careful and minute investigation.

The whole of the family to which this species belongs are
liable to great variety of colour, and even of marking ; but
there are certain limits beyond which these variations do not
extend, which although not always easily expressed in the few
words which are convenient for a specific diagnostic phrase,
are yet easily recognised by the eye, when once well and
sufficiently observed.

It is generally brown, inclining more or less to yellowish
or reddish brown on the upper side, spotted irregularly with
black, brown, or brownish grey, with transverse fasciee, which
vary in number, of the same colour on the legs; beneath,
yellowish white, sometimes with spots similar to those on the
back, but smaller and fewer. ‘* The most constant mark,” as
Mr. Jenyns well observes, ‘ is an elongated patch of brown, or
brownish black, behind the eyes, on each side of the occiput:
there is also generally more or less indication of a whitish

COMMON FROG. 101

line running longitudinally down each side of the back, and
enclosing a space paler than the adjoining regions.”

Inch. Lines.

Total length of the head and body : . 2 8
Length of the head : : : ae Wate
es hinder leg - - : 4 0
3 foreleg . ; : ee lao

102 RANIDE.

ANOURA. RANIDA.

SCOTTISH FROG.
Rana Scotica. Mihi.

Ir has been long observed by several naturalists that a spe-
cies of Frog exists in Scotland, distinct from the common
one, and it has generally been referred to the Rana esculenta,
or Edible Frog of the continent of Kurope. Thus Mr. Don,
in his account of the Plants and Animals found in Forfar-
shire, mentions the Edible Frog as to be met with in the
lakes of that neighbourhood, although rather rare; and both
Shaw and Pennant allude to it, the former as being ‘rare in
England,” the latter simply incorporating it amongst his
British Reptiles, but without mentioning its locality ; and Dr.
Fleming merely observes that it is ‘‘ not so common as the
preceding.” In July 1833, Dr. Stark exhibited at the Zoo-
logical Society a skeleton of the Scottish species, the follow-
ing meagre account of which, occurring in the Proceedings of
the Society, is all that remains of that gentleman’s observa-
tions. ‘* Dr. Stark exhibited the skeleton of the Edible Frog,
Rana esculenta (Linn.), and stated that this species is found
in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, whence his specimen was
obtained. He pointed out some of the differences between
its osseous structure and that of the Common Frog, Rana
temporaria Linn.”

Thus one observer after another has gone on, each copying
the error of his predecessor, until Mr. Jenyns, with his usual
accuracy and acumen, suggests the probability that the spe-

SCOTTISH FROG. 103

cies described as FR. esculenta, by the only two persons who
have assigned any locality for it, may possibly be a new one.
Pennant describes a Frog under the name of the ‘Great
Frog,” as a native of the woods near Loch Ransa in the Isle
of Arran; but he does not give any authority, and from his
description, which, however, is very slight, there is no doubt
that the animal was nothing more than the Common Toad.
Being naturally anxious to ascertain so interesting a point,
I determined upon procuring all the information in my power
respecting it; and on writing to Sir William Jardine upon
the subject, I obtained from him, with his accustomed kind-
ness and liberality, the opportunity of examining the iden-
tical skeleton upon which Dr. Stark’s notices were made.
My excellent friend Bibron also kindly sent me several spe-
‘ cimens of the true R. esculenta; and I have now before me
the skeleton of the Scottish Frog, that of the Edible Frog
from France, and that of the Common Frog of England.
I have given at the head of this article a figure of the cra-
nium of each species; that on the left being R. temporaria,
the centre figure the Scottish Frog, and that on the right
R. esculenta. Even a cursory glance will show that the pre-
sent species is more remote in the general form of the cra-
nium from the #&. esculenta, with which it has been con-
founded, than it is from the Common English Frog. The
whole animal is of very large size, the skeleton being nearly
one-third longer than that of either of the other species; and
it will be observed that the general form of the cranium is
much less elongated and more obtuse than in the Edible
Frog,—a character which it possesses in common with the
Rana temporaria. ‘The parietal bones are scarcely as broad
as they are in the latter, although the cranium is more than
one-fourth longer; and those of the edible species are still
narrower in proportion than in either of the others. The
detail of the osteology does not afford many distinctions of
importance ; but it may be mentioned, amongst other trifling

104 RANIDE.

circumstances, that the ¢l¢a are a little narrower than in either
of the other species, those of the Edible Frog being propor-
tionably the broadest, though but in a slight degree.

I think there can be no doubt that the present species is
distinct from the Common Frog, and that it is certainly not
R. esculenta. Iam not aware of any other species to which
it can be referred, and I have therefore assigned to it the
specific name Scotica provisionally. In order, however, to
afford an opportunity to Scottish naturalists of comparing
perfect and recent specimens with a correct representation of
R. esculenta, I give a figure of the latter species from one of
the specimens sent to me by M. Bibron.

COMMON TOAD. 105

ANOURA. BUFONIDZ.

Genus, Bufo. Toad.

Generic Character.—Body inflated ; skin warty ; parotids porous ; hind feet
of moderate length, toes not webbed ; jaws without teeth ; nose rounded.

COMMON TOAD.

PADDOCK.

Bufo vulgaris. Laurent.

Specific Character.—Lurid brownish grey, with reddish brown tubercles ;
body much inflated.

Bufo, Ray, Syn. Quad. p. 252.
Rana Bufo, Linn. Syst. Nat. I. p. 354.
Bufo terrestris, Roser, Ran. t. xx.
», vulgaris, Laurent. Frem. Brit. Anim. p. 159. Jenyns, Brit. Vert.
p- 301.
Toad, Pennant, Brit. Zool. III. p. 14.
Common Toad, Suaw, Gen. Zool. III. p. 138, t. xl.
Crapaud commun, Cuv. Reg. Anim. IJ, p. 109.

Few animals have ever suffered more undeserved persecu-
tion as the victims of an absurd and ignorant prejudice than

106 BUFONIDS.

the Toad. Condemned by common consent as a disgusting,
odious, and venomous reptile, the proverbial emblem of all
that is malicious and hateful in the human character, it is
placed under universal ban, and treated .as an outlaw both by
man and boy throughout the country. Should I be able,
by the following history of its habits and manners, to show
that it is, on the contrary, highly useful, perfectly harmless,
inoffensive, and even timid, and susceptible of no inconsider-
able degree of discriminating attachment to those who treat
it with kindness, it is hoped that some few individuals may
be thus rescued from those barbarous acts of cruelty to which
the species is almost everywhere subjected. The mistaken
notions to which I have alluded are indeed pardonable in the
ignorant and uneducated ; but that one professing to be an
observer and an admirer of the works of nature, should have
suffered his prejudices to dictate such a violent and false
philippic against this harmless creature, as the following
passage from Pennant, is not easily to be accounted for, and
scarcely to be forgiven :—

He calls it ‘“* The most deformed and hideous of all ani-
mals; the body broad; the back flat, and covered with a
pimply dusky hide; the belly large, swagging, and swelling
out; the legs short ; its pace laborious and crawling ; its re-
treat gloomy and filthy : in short, its general appearance such
as to strike with disgust and horror.” The whole of his
account teems with expressions of the same kind; and it
would be difficult to find a more striking instance of the in-
fluence of prejudice in the mind of any professed admirer of
nature, or a more unpleasing example of partial misrepresen-
tation. The true lover of nature, on the contrary, who, in
the simplicity and singleness of heart which always belong to
that character, seeks even in the less attractive of her works for
those proofs of wisdom and beneficence by which they are all

COMMON TOAD. 107

characterized, will rather find in the very peculiarities which
excited the spleen and disgust of our celebrated drawing-room
zoologist, only fresh indications of the same discriminating
wisdom, and the same never-failing, though often, to the
superficial observer, mysterious and veiled beneficence.

The Toad belongs to a family, the sluggish habits of
which are remarkably distinct from those of the lithe and
active animals of which the Frog is the type. Terrestrial in
its general abode, it requires not the powerful paddles of the
latter to propel it rapidly through the water, and its safety
consists rather in concealment than in the power of escaping
from its enemies. It bears, in fact, the same relation to the
Frog that the terrestrial Salamander does to the Water
Newt. Like the rest of the amphibia, it becomes torpid
during the winter, and chooses for its retreat some retired and
sheltered hole, a hollow tree, or a space amongst large stones,
or some such place, and there remains until the return of
spring calls it again into a state of life and activity. Its
food consists of insects and worms, of almost every kind.
It refuses food which is not living, and, indeed, will only
take it at the moment when it is in motion: such at least is
the result of my own observations upon the habits of this
animal, which have been neither few nor brief. The Toad,
when about to feed, remains motionless, with its eyes turned
directly forwards upon the object, and the head a little in-
clined towards it, and in this attitude it remains until the
insect moves ; when, by a stroke like lightning, the tongue is
thrown forward upon the victim, which is instantly drawn
into the mouth. So rapid is this movement that it requires
some little practice as well as close observation to distin-
guish the different motions of the tongue. This organ is
constructed as in the Frog, being folded back upon itself ;
and the under surface of the tip being embued with a viscid

108 BUFONID2.

mucous secretion, the insect is secured by its adhesive
quality. When the prey is taken it is slightly pressed by
the margins of the jaw ; but as this seldom kills it, unless it
be a soft tender larva, it is generally swallowed alive; and I
have often seen the muscles of the Toad’s sides twitch in a
very curious manner, from the tickling movements of a hard
coleopterous insect in the stomach. It will also take earth-
worms of considerable size, and it is a very curious sight to
watch the manner in which the powerful and writhing worm is
secured. If the Toad happen to take it by the middle, the
extremities of the worm are twined with great force and ac-
tivity around the muzzle in every direction, in its attempts to
escape ; but the Toad pushes one portion after another into
its mouth, by means of the fore feet, until it all disappears,
when it is swallowed whole.

For the following very curious and almost marvellous
statement, I am indebted to the Rey. J. Sladen, of Ninfield,
who kindly communicated it to me in the following letter,
which I give verbatim and entire, and without attempting to
account for the extraordinary fact :-—

“¢ Sir, Ninfield, Sussex, Feb. 14, 1836.

‘¢ As you are now engaged in writing a history of British
Reptiles, I am induced to send you an account of a fact that
has lately come to my knowledge, thinking it may be thought
by you worth recording.

The fact I have to relate was witnessed in the month of
August 1814, and the scene of it was the Fairlight Downs,
near Hastings; the exact spot being part of an open and
bold height facing the sea, and looking down upon a glen
covered with brambles, &c. The hour was about noon, and
the sun was shining powerfully at the time.

A gentleman was taking a walk with two companions, when
on arriving at the spot above described, they saw what

COMMON TOAD. 109

was to them a totally unprecedented sight. A Toad was
squatted on the ground, with its front elevated, holding
the head of a viper in its mouth. The viper writhed its
body occasionally, as if trying to escape, but its exertions
were to no purpose. After watching the two animals for a
short time, one of the party attempted to separate the victim
from its enemy with a stick; but failing in this, he threw
both together into the glen below. The countenance of the
Toad evinced much ferocity, and its eyes glared. The en-
tire head of the viper was in the Toad’s mouth, which seemed
completely filled in consequence, and its jaws were perfectly
closed; and yet it did not appear at all inconvenienced by
the mouthful, respiring apparently without effort.

*« The gentleman who, with his two companions, witnessed
this, and who has related it to me, is the Rev. John Phillips,
Vicar of Ninfield, near Battle, and I am his curate.

** Should this relation be as curious as it appears to me,
it will doubtless be worth your notice ; but should it be no-
thing unusual, I must beg you will pardon my thus troubling
you, and I may be permitted to remain,

Sir;
‘* Your humble servant,
** And well-wisher in the cause of Natural History,
(Signed) “ Epwarp H. M. Stapen.”

“ Further to authenticate this account, I have requested
Mr. Phillips to add his signature.

(Signed) “ Joun Puriures.”

Like the other Amphibia, and the Reptilia generally, the
Toad sheds its skin at certain intervals, the old cuticle
coming off, and leaving a new one which had been formed
underneath in its stead. There are some very remarkable
circumstances connected with this process, which I detailed
many years ago to the Zoological Club of the Linnean So-
ciety, and of which the following is the substance. Having

110 BUFONIDE.

often found, amongst several Toads which I was then keep-
ing for the purpose of observing their habits, some of brighter
colours than usual, and with the surface moist and very
smooth, I had supposed that this appearance might have
depended upon the state of the animal’s health, or the in-
fluence of some peculiarity in one or other of its functions :
on watching carefully, however, I one day observed a large
one, the skin of which was particularly dry and dull in its
colours, with a bright streak down the mesial line of the
back ; and on examining further I discovered a corresponding
line along the belly. ‘This proved to arise from an entire
slit in the old cuticle which exposed to view the new and
brighter skin underneath. Finding, therefore, what was
about to happen, I watched the whole detail of this curious
process. I soon observed that the two halves of the skin,
thus completely divided, continued to recede further and
further from the centre, and become folded and rugose ; and
after a short space, by means of the continued twitching of
the animal’s body, it was brought down in folds on the sides.
The hinder leg, first on one side and then on the other, was
brought forward under the arm, which was pressed down
upon it, and on the hinder limb being withdrawn, its cuticle
was left inverted under the arm; and that of the anterior
extremity was now loosened, and at length drawn off by the
assistance of the mouth. The whole cuticle was thus de-
tached, and was now pushed by the two hands into the
mouth in a little ball, and swallowed at a single gulp. I
afterwards had repeated opportunities of watching this cu-
rious process, which did not materially vary in any instance.
The reproduction of the Toad is in all essential points
similar to that of the Frog. The ova are in a similar man-
ner impregnated during their passage, and their immersion in
water is equally necessary for the developement of the em-
bryo. But instead of being expelled in a mass, they are

COMMON TOAD. 111

arranged in a double series, placed alternately, and perfectly
regular. The jelly-like mass in which the embryos are en-
veloped, forms a continuous line about the eighth or sixth of
an inch in thickness, and extending to the length of three or
four feet. The ova are deposited in the spring, about a
fortnight later than those of the Frog, and it is not until the
approach of autumn that the young ones, having cast off
their Tadpole form, come to seek their food on the land.
The Tadpole is smaller and blacker in all the stages of its
growth than that of the Frog; but there are no other pecu-
liarities which are at all popularly interesting.

The stories of Toads having been found in the very sub-
stance of the wood of a tree, and in the midst of a solid and
hard rock, are too numerous, and too generally asserted and
believed, to be passed over here, although I have to regret
that, after many and urgent inquiries, and the examination
of several asserted cases of that kind, I am unable to throw
any light upon this doubtful and mysterious question. Some
years since I had a Toad sent me by a person of the highest
credit, with the assurance that it had been taken alive out of
a mass of indurated clay, of great depth, and that it had died
immediately after being exposed to the air. But this case,
like most, if not all, others of the same kind, is liable to the
objection that the Toad most probably fell into the hollow
where the men were at work, and was taken up by them in
ignorance of the mode in which it had come there. Nu-
merous experiments have been made in order to try whether
the Toads would die on being artificially embedded in masses
of clay, of plaster of Paris, in wooden boxes surrounded by
plaster, and in other similar circumstances ; but hitherto all
have failed, although in some of them the animals have cer-
tainly lived for a much longer period than could have been
expected, prolonged sometimes to many months, or even to
between one and two years. Upon the whole, it appears to

112 BUFONIDE.

me that whilst the many concurrent assertions of credible
persons, who declare themselves to have been witnesses of
the emancipation of imprisoned Toads, forbids us hastily to
refuse our assent, or at least to deny the possibility of such a
circumstance, it must be confessed that we still want better
and more cautious evidence, to authorize our implicit belief
in these asserted facts. The truth probably is, that a Toad
may have lain hid in the hollow of a tree, during perhaps a
whole autumn and winter, and found itself on the return of
spring so far enclosed within its hiding place as to be unable
to escape. As this animal requires but little respiration, and
consequently but little food to support life, especially when
in a state of entire inactivity, the smallest opening would be
sufficient to admit the requisite passage of air, and even the
occasional ingress of a small insect ; and afterwards, when the
tree was cut up, the Toad may have been found enclosed,
and the opening may have escaped detection. To believe
that a Toad enclosed within a mass of clay, or other similar
substance, shall exist wholly without air or food, for hundreds
of years, and at length be liberated alive, and capable of
crawling, on the breaking up of the matrix, now become a
solid rock, is certainly a demand upon our credulity which
few would be ready to answer.

That Toads may be rendered very tame, and be made to
distinguish those who feed and are kind to them, there are
abundant facts to testify. I have possessed a very large one
which would sit on one of my hands, and eat from the other ;
and the story of Mr. Arscott’s Toad in Devonshire, related in
Pennant’s British Zoology, is too well known to need repe-
tition.

The opinions formerly entertained of the properties of the
Toad, were pre-eminently absurd. It was highly poisonous,
and this not only from its bite; its breath, and even its glance
were fraught with mischief or death. The water which it

COMMON TOAD. 113

expels from the reservoir communicating with the cloaca, and
the object of which I have already explained in speaking of
the Frog, was supposed to be the urine, as it is generally,
indeed, up to the present time, and was believed to be
highly poisonous. It is almost unnecessary to add, that this
water is pure and limpid, and wholly without any delete-
rious qualities. The only circumstance which can be said at
all to favour the bad character which attaches to this animal
is, that there are situated upon the back and sides numerous
secreting follicular glands, the secreted matter from which is
somewhat fetid and of an acrid quality. Dr. John Davy was,
I believe, the first who ever minutely examined into its true
nature. The following is an abstract of Dr. Davy’s obsery-
ations on this subject. ‘* After adverting to the correctness
of the popular opinion respecting the poisonous nature of the
Toad, which the professed naturalist has generally rejected,
the author proceeds to describe the seat of the poison, which
is chiefly in follicles in the skin, and which on pressure ex-
udes from it in the form of a thick yellowish fluid, which on
evaporation yields a transparent residue, very acrid, and act-
ing on the tongue like extract of aconite. It is neither acid
nor alkaline ; and since a chicken inoculated with it received
no injury, it does not appear to be noxious when absorbed,
and carried into the circulation.

“¢ Dr. Davy thinks that the principal use of this poison is
to defend the reptile against the attacks of carnivorous ani-
mals; he also remarks, that as it contains an inflammable sub-
stance, it may be excrementitious ; it may serve to carry off a
portion of carbon from the blood, and thus be auxiliary to
the function of the lungs. In support of this idea, the
author observes that he finds each of the pulmonary arteries
of the Toad divided into two branches, one of which goes to
the lungs, and the other to the cutis, ramifying most abun-
dantly where the largest follicles are situated, and where

I

114 BUFONID.E.

there is a large venous plexus, seeming to indicate that the
subcutaneous distribution of the second branch of the pul-
monary artery may further aid the office of the lungs by
bringing the blood to the surface to be acted upon by the
ain! *

I have extracted the latter part of this passage to show how
beautifully the independent observations of two physiologists,
so eminent as Dr. Davy and Dr. William Edwards, bear
upon and illustrate each other; as will be obvious to every
one who recollects the account I have already given of the
cutaneous respiration of the amphibia, as discovered and ex-
plained by the last-named philosopher.

The usual pace of the T’oad is neither leaping nor running,
it is rather a kind of crawl; and on being alarmed, or threat-
ened with danger, it stops, swells its body, and, on its being
handled, a portion of the cutaneous secretion, which I have
just mentioned, exudes from the follicles, and a discharge of
the limpid water, which has been before alluded to, imme-
diately takes place. Its quickest movement is an imperfect
leap.

The general form of the Toad is certainly far from pre-
possessing. The body is puffed out and swollen; the head
large, flat on the top; the muzzle rounded, and very obtuse.
There are no teeth either in the jaw bones, or on the palate.
There is above the eyes a slight protuberance, studded with
pores; and the parotids are large, thick, prominent, and
porous, secreting an acrid fluid. Body covered with warts,
which are larger above, and more numerous beneath. Fore
feet with four toes, not at all palmated ; hind legs of moderate
length ; the toes five in number, and slightly palmated. The
colours are liable to some variation, but are always much
lighter and brighter immediately after the removal of the old

* Abstracts of the Phil. Trans. Part II. p. 263. For the whole paper see
the Phil. Trans. for 1826, Part II. p. 127.

COMMON TOAD. 115

cuticle; the upper parts are of a dirty, lurid, or blackish
grey, with sometimes a slight greenish tinge; tubercles more
or less brown; beneath dirty yellowish white, sometimes
spotted with black.

Dimensions of a large specimen :—

In. Lines.
Total length . : 8 : es ea
Hinder leg. : : . 5 3.7
Fore leg 5 : S : Sse viene,

116 BUFONIDE.

ANOURA. BUFONID#.

Mi
Hy)
Ail

i

\

NATTER-JACK TOAD.
Bufo calamita. Laur.

Specific Character.—Light yellowish brown, clouded with dull olive; a
bright yellow line along the middle of the back.

Rana Bufo, var. B, Get. Syst. Nat. Lin. I. pt. iii. p. 1047.

», Rubeta, Turton, Brit. An. p. 80.
Bufo Rubeta, Fiem. Brit. Anim. p. 159.

,», terrestris fetidus, Roser, Hist. Ran. p. 107, t. xxiv.

5, Calamita, Laur. Amph. 27. Jenyns, Brit. Vert. p. 302.
Natter Jack, Pennant, Brit. Zool. III. p. 19.

Bufa mephitica, var? Suaw, Gen. Zool. p. 152.

Tus species, although found in considerable numbers in
certain localities, is far from being commonly met with.
Pennant, who appears to have been the first to publish it as

NATTER-JACK TOAD. 117

a British reptile, obtained his knowledge of it from Sir
Joseph Banks; and we find from his account that it had
been observed both ‘‘ on Putney Common, and near Rever-
by Abbey, Lincolnshire, where it is called the Natter Jack.”
It is common on Blackheath, and in several other places in
the neighbourhood of London ; I have found it in consider-
able numbers near ponds and ditches not far from Deptford,
where they appear to have congregated for the purpose of
breeding. Mr. Jenyns mentions Gamlingay Heath in Cam-
bridgeshire, and two or three localities in Norfolk. It would
appear that Dr. Fleming was not aware of its being an inha-
bitant of Scotland, as he does not add this to the formerly
known localities ; but Sir W. Jardine has favoured me with the
following account of its habitat in that part of the kingdom :
—‘ The Natter-Jack Toad is taken in a Marsh on the coasts
of the Solway Frith, almost brackish (certainly so in winter),
and within a hundred yards of spring-tide high-water mark.
It lies between the village of Carse and Saturness (Souther-
ness) point, where I have found them for six or seven miles
along the coast. They are very abundant.” Sir William
has sent me some specimens, which are in every respect the
same as those found in the neighbourhood of London.

The habits of this species differ in some respects from
those of the Common Toad. It is less sluggish in its move-
ments, and its pace is often quickened to a sort ofrun. It
is most probable that its reproduction, and all the stages of
its developement resemble those of the Common Toad; but
on these subjects some additional information is required. It
is probably even more capable of sustaining drought than the
Common Toad, and is frequently found in dry situations,
resorting to the water only for the purpose of breeding.

The general form of this animal is similar to that
of the last-named species; it is, however, less tumid ;
the eyes are much more prominent,—and are, in fact, ele-

118 BUFONID.

vated above the upper surface of the head. The porous
protuberances behind the head are also less developed. The
hinder legs are scarcely so long as the body; the toes are
less palmated than even in the Common ‘Toad ;—a structure
in accordance with its still more terrestrial habits; and the
rudimentary sixth toe—a tubercle which has been so con-
sidered, which we find in the Common T’oad—is here absent.
The general colour is a light yellowish brown, or olivaceous,
clouded with a darker hue ; a yellowish line along the middle
of the back. The warts, or glands, on the body, and the
large glands behind the head of a reddish hue. The under
parts yellowish, with black spots ; the legs marked with black
bands.
Dimensions :—

In. Lines.

Total length . wcens

Length of fore-leg : : : : ls
Length of hinder-leg 5 . : ae

COMMON WARTY-NEWT. 119

URODELA. ' SALAMANDRIDZ.

Genus, J7'riton. Laur.

Generic Character.—Tongue semi-globular, slightly free at each side, free
and pointed behind. Palate with a double longitudinal series of teeth. No
parotids nor glands along the back. Body covered with warty tubercles ; glan-
dular pores behind, and over the eyes, and a longitudinal series of distant
similar pores along each side. ‘oes without nails; four on the anterior, and
five on the posterior feet. Dorsal and caudal crests (in the male) separate.

COMMON WARTY-NEWT.
GREAT WATER-NEWT.

Triton cristatus. Laur.

Specific Character.— Upper lip overhanging the lower, but without any
distinct lobe.
Lucerta palustris, Linn. Syst. Nat. I. p.370. Suaw, Gen. Zool. IIT.
p- 298, t. Ixxxii.
Salamandra aquatica, Ray, Syn. Quad. p. 273.
a cristata, Daun. Hist. Rept. VIII. p. 2338. Cuv. Reg. Anim.
(edit. 2.) II. p. 116.

120 SALAMANDRIDE.

Triton cristatus, Laur. Spec. Med. p. 39, et 146, sp. 44. Firz. Class.
Rept. p. 66, sp. 5. Boar. Icon. Faun. Ital.
», palustris, Frem. Brit. An, p. 157. Jenyns, Brit. Vert. p. 303.
Molge re Merrett, Syst. Amph. p. 187, sp. 8.
Warty lizard, Penn. Brit. Zool. III. p. 23, t. i.

Ir an instance were wanting to exemplify the obvious
fallacy of the opinion that external form is alone sufficient
to indicate the relations of animals, it would be impossible
to select one more striking and remarkable than that of the
tailed Amphibia; and it is certainly not a little extraordinary
that Linneus himself, notwithstanding the acuteness which
generally enabled him to pierce through the fallacious imdi-
cations offered by external appearance, and to seize upon the
true relations of individuals and groups without being misled,
like most others of his day, by form alone, should in
this instance have failed to detect the latent affinities of
the group, and to appreciate the relative value of its cha-
racters. A want of more accurate knowledge, or, perhaps, a
degree of timidity arising from the novelty of the position
which he took, prevented this great man from always follow-
ing out the principles which his genius impelled him to adopt,
and doubtless led him to the inconsistencies with which he
has been too severely and indiscriminately charged. Be that
as it may, he certainly in the present instance not only
searched not below the surface, but failed even to appreciate
the importance of the character of the skin itself;—a refer-
ence to which, and to several peculiarities in external struc-
ture might have led him to suspect, at least, the relations
which this part bears to that of the tailless Amphibia, and
especially of the Frogs.

The generic form to which the present species belongs, ex-
hibits all the characters of the amphibia in as striking a point
of view, as either of those which have been already mentioned.
The naked and respirable skin, and the completeness of the
transformation, are not less obvious in the present than in the

COMMON WARTY-NEWT. 121

former group. The whole of them are characterised also by
an elongated body, by the existence of four legs, and by an
aquatic life.

This species, which grows to the length of six inches, is
the largest found in this country. It is not at all uncommon
in ponds and large ditches, where it lives upon aquatic in-
sects, and upon any other small living animals. It feeds
during the spring upon the Tadpole of the Common Frog,
which it devours with great voracity, and thus doubtless co-
operates with the smaller fishes to keep under the immense
increase of Frogs, which, but for this, and similar means of
destruction, would necessarily take place, and almost realize
amongst us a repetition of the Egyptian plague. They will
also devour the smaller species of Newt, T'r. punctatus, which
they seize with great apparent ferocity, and hold fast in spite
of all the efforts made by the victim to escape. I have taken
them more than once in the act of swallowing an individual
of the smaller species, which was so large as to occasion great
difficulty and delay in the act of deglutition. The following
fact in their habits is also worthy of remark :—“ It is,” says
the Prince of Musignano, ‘ a wonderful circumstance, that an
animal so tenacious of life, should die with the most violent
convulsions on having a little salt sprinkled upon it.”

The aquatic progression of these animals is effected prin-
cipally hy means of the tail ; and during the act of swimming,
the legs are turned backwards so as to admit of the smallest
possible degree of resistance ; when floating quite still on the
surface of the water, which they frequently do, the feet are
stretched out at right angles to the body, and the toes spread
as widely as possible ; and at the bottom of the pond they
creep by means of their little weak feet, which also serve for
their progression on land.

In the early spring the distinction between the males and
the females in external form, which during the winter had

122 SALAMANDRIDE.

been slight and inconspicuous, becomes more decided. The
dorsal crest, which in this species is high and deeply incised,
and the superior and inferior membrane of the tail, become
developed to a remarkable degree. The male seeks and
follows the other sex; and the tail of the former is vibrated,
and, as it were, smacked, by a motion similar to that of
smacking a whip, several times during only a few moments.
Rusconi asserts, and he has been followed by most subse-
quent writers, that impregnation is effected without contact ;
but I have reasons, which it is unnecessary for me to detail
here, for believing this to be a mistake, at least in some*spe-
cies. It is sufficient for me to state that those reasons are
the result of my own repeated observations. The manner in
which the eggs are deposited, is very interesting and curious.
The female, selecting some leaf of an aquatic plant, sits, as
it were, upon its edge; and folding it by means of her two
hinder feet, deposits a single egg in the duplicature of the
folded part of the leaf, which is thereby glued most securely
together, and the egg is thus effectually protected from injury.
The manner in which this is effected is highly interesting, and
may be readily observed by any one, as the animals are suffi-
ciently common in many ponds and ditches, and may gene-
rally be easily obtained by means of a minnow net. In the
neighbourhood of London, especially, they are to be found in
numbers every spring, and I have had no difficulty in procur-
ing as many as I wished for the purposes of observation.
From this facility of obtaining them, the number of eggs
which each produces, and the time which is occupied in the
act of deposition, it is astonishing that the mode above de-
scribed was never observed until of late years, and that many
excellent naturalists have given most erroneous accounts of
the process. Spallanzani, for instance, declares that the eggs
fall at once to the bottom of the water when deposited ; and

Cuvier asserts that they are produced by several at a time,

COMMON WARTY-NEWT. ¥25

attached to each other like beads. These mistakes have
arisen from the fact that the precaution was not taken of
placing aquatic plants in the vessel with the Newts, the con-
sequence of which has been that, in the first place, the eggs
of course fell to the bottom of the vessel; and, in the next
place, as they fell into contact with each other they became
united by the mass of tenacious matter by which they are
surrounded. ‘This shows how important it is, in all observ-
ations on the habits of animals, made on individuals in con-
finement, to place them in circumstances as nearly natural as
possible; and never to rest satisfied by any results obtain-
ed under artificial restraints. Rusconi has the merit of first
publishing an accurate account of the process in question,
and I have observed it many times, and long before I was
acquainted with Rusconi’s book.

As soon as the female has in this way deposited a single
egg, she quits the leaf; and after the lapse of a short time
seeks another, there to place another egg.

I now proceed to describe briefly the developement of the
embryo in this species, which, as it is the largest, is the most
easily observed. ‘The period when the deposit of the eggs
commences depends upon the season ; but the time when the
greater number are produced, is during the months of May
and June; and it is worthy of notice, that the different spe-
cies of Newt are found depositing their eggs during a much
longer period of the summer than the ecaudate amphibia,
such as the Frog and Toad. At the time I have mentioned,
if the leaves of various species of aquatic plants be observed,
many of them will be found folded together, and within the
fold a single egg of the Newt will be discovered. It is,
however, necessary for accurate observation from the com-
mencement, that the female Newt be taken and placed in a
vessel of water with the plants in question, that she may

deposit the egg under the eye of the observer. The best

124 SALAMANDRID£.

plant for the purpose is the Polygonum persicaria, which is
ordinarily chosen by the animal in its natural habitat. <A
large glass globe is a good vessel for the purpose of observy-
ation; but if it be wished to employ a larger one, I may be
allowed to recommend the largest sized foot-bath made of
white ware. This vessel I have often used for keeping
many aquatic animals; and if a layer of Roman cement
be placed at the bottom, and a few pebbles, or a stone of
sufficient size be fixed by the cement at one end, the ob-
jection to the slipperiness of the vessel will be obviated,
and the animal will also have the opportunity of coming
above the surface at pleasure.

COMMON WARTY-NEWT. 125

The egg, when first deposited (fig. 1 of the woodcut), is
very lightly tinged with buff; it is surrounded by a glairy
envelope, to which it is not attached, but rotates unrestrain-
edly within it. The first obvious change which takes place
is the elongation of the white embryo, which in a few days
exhibits somewhat of a division into a cephalic, an abdominal,
and a caudal portion; and shortly afterwards, as at figure 2,
the developement has advanced so far as to afford indications
of the branchie on each side of the neck, and even a slight
enlargement at the part where the anterior feet will hereafter
make their appearance. In the space of a few days more,
the state of the embryo is such as we observe at figure 3.
The different lobes of the branchize are now distinctly seen,
though still simple ; the anterior pair of lobes are the holders,
by which the little animal afterwards attaches itself to leaves,
or other bodies ; and behind the branchize may be observed
a slight eminence on each side, which is the rudiment of the
anterior foot. At this stage a double dorsal line of minute
brown spots may be seen. All these characters continue to
be hourly developed ; and in the state which is represented at
figures 4, 5, it quits its envelope, which has been continually
becoming elongated to accord with the changing form of the
embryo. On first issuing from the egg, it swims about, says
Rusconi, without apparent consciousness of any impediments,
striking against a leaf, or the sides of the vessel, and imme-
diately adhering by its holders to the substance against which
it happens to strike, and remains thus suspended for a time,
as if asleep; and then, without any apparent excitement,
swims off to another part. The developement of the young
Tadpole, for such it must now be considered, progresses with
considerable rapidity after its exclusion from the egg. Ina
fortnight, or three weeks, according to the temperature, it
has acquired the condition exhibited in figures 6, 7. The
branchize now offer one of the most beautiful and elegant

126 SALAMANDRIDS®.

objects in nature, as well as one of the most interesting.
Observed even with the naked eye, the leaf-like division of
these organs present a most pleasing subject of contempla-
tion; but viewed in the microscope, the branchial circulation
excites the greatest delight and surprise. The blood, which
has now become red, ascends by the branchial arteries, and
returns by the veins after having undergone the necessary
change of decarbonization ; and the globules of the blood are
seen accelerated by momentary jerks through the vessels.
The transparent tail affords a beautiful example of the sys-
temic circulation, as the former organs do of the respira-
tory; and in both instances the transparency of the parts is
such as to present no obstacle to the view. The eyes have
now acquired their permanent character; the mouth has
become terminal, and the anterior feet have acquired dis-
tinct digitations. In consonance with this latter change, the
holders, which had been the only previous means of station,
being now unnecessary, have become almost entirely absorb-
ed. At figure 8, the further developement of the anterior
feet, which have acquired four toes, and the rudimentary
existence of the posterior pair, have considerably approxi-
mated the little animal to its permanent condition; but the
branchize have acquired a still more extensive developement,
and the leaflets of which they are composed are much more
distinct. In figure 9, which is of the natural size, we see the
animal much changed. The body is now bulky, the colours
are nearly those of the perfect condition, and the transpa-
rency of the body, which has previously been such as to
afford the most agreeable opportunity to examine the in-
ternal structure, and to watch the functions which were going
on, has given place to the opacity of the adult animal. ‘The
branchize, however, still remain, and have assumed a firmer
consistence, a more opaque appearance, and a deeper colour.
From this period the branchiz become gradually absorbed,

COMMON WARTY-NEWT. 127

and. the lungs are in the same proportion developed, until at
length, towards the close of autumn, the young animal has
acquired its perfect condition, and has quitted its aquatic for
an atmospheric mode of respiration. In fact, like the Tad-
pole of the Frog, the metamorphosis of which we have already
traced, it has passed from the state of a fish, to that of a
reptile.*

This species is much more durably aquatic in its habits
than the common smaller one, Lissotriton punctatus. It
occasionally, indeed, leaves the water, and I have found it
hibernating under stones ; but I believe this is not usual ; it
commonly remains torpid at the bottom of ponds and ditches,
until the warmth of spring recalls it into activity. During
this season of retirement, the male loses his fine dorsal crest,
and the web of the tail also becomes considerably dimi-
nished ; but even before the return of the warm season, this
characteristic sexual ornament becomes developed, to be again
lost in the following winter. It does not fall off; but, like
the tail of the Tadpole, is gradually absorbed. The Newts
shed their skin in the same way as other aquatic amphibia;
it comes off in shreds, and is washed away as it becomes
loose.

The head of this species is flattened; the muzzle obtuse
and rounded ; the gape nearly straight, and extending a little
beyond the eyes; teeth numerous, minute; the upper lip
slightly pendulous, covering the margin of the under jaw
when the mouth is closed, but not forming a distinct lobe.
The trunk is continuous with the head, the neck being only

* In the perennibranchiate forms of the Amphibia, such as the Siren, the
Proteus, and others, the developement of the sanguiferous and respiratory
systems is arrested at that point of their growth which we have just been ob-
serving in the present animal, at figure 9, at the point where the lungs have
just begun to assume their functions, and before the branchia have undergone
any diminution in their volume. Here they permanently remain ; and exhibit

the extraordinary phenomenon of co-existent pulmonary and branchial re-
spiration.

128 SALAMANDRID&.

distinguished by a small fold of integument beneath. The
body is thick, but not ventricose ; round, corrugated, and
covered with small warts or tubercles. There are no pa-
rotids; but there are two patches of simple pores on each
side of the head, and a line of similar pores running along
each side, and somewhat distant from each other.

The tail is about two fifths of the entire length, consider-
ably compressed, the upper and under margins sharply and
abruptly carinated. The anterior feet, when brought for-
wards, extend a little beyond the snout, each having four
flattened toes, of which the third is the longest, then the
second, then the fourth, and the first is the shortest. Hinder
feet longer and thicker than the fore, each with five toes, of
which the first is the shortest, the fifth longer, then the second,
the third and fourth being equal and the longest. The
upper parts of the animal are blackish brown, or yellowish
brown, with darker round spots; under parts bright reddish
orange, with round black spots; sides dotted with white ;
sides of the tail, particularly in the male sex, of a beautiful
shining pearly white, which, like the rest of the colours, be-
comes brighter in the spring.

In the breeding-season the male acquires a deep, flexible,
indented crest, which extends the whole length of the back,
along the mesial line. It is separated from the correspond-
ing crest of the tail by a distinct hiatus. The crest is of
a lighter colour than the back. It is confined to the male,
and disappears during the winter.

Dimensions :—
In. Lines
Total length . - > - ° 5 6
Length of the head and body : : -} oes
Length of the tail “ 2 4

STRAIT-LIPPED WARTY-NEWT. 129

URODELA. SALAMANDRIDZ,

STRAIT-LIPPED WARTY-NEWT.

Triton Bibronitt. Mihi.

Specific Character.—The same as Tr, cristatus, excepting that the upper lip
is perfectly straight, meeting the lower, and not overhanging it. The skin, and
particularly that of the head, much more rugous and more strongly tuberculated.
Colour darker.

Triton marmoratus, Bisron, in Proc. Zool. Soc. non Latr.

Or the existence of this second species of tuberculated
Triton we were ignorant, until my friend, M. Bibron, de-
tected it in the collection of the Zoological Society, and from
the character of the lip believed it to be the 7'r. marmoratus
of Latreille. In the course of the last spring I had several,
both of this species and of T'r. cristatus, living ; and have now
before me the specimen belonging to the Society upon which

K

130 SALAMANDRID&.

M. Bibron’s opinion was founded, as well as one of the true
marmoratus, which he has kindly sent me from Paris. I
have also examined several in the British Museum, where they
were confounded with the 7'r. cristatus. Upon a careful
comparison of the whole, I am induced to consider that the
new English species is distinct from T'r. marmoratus, and
that it is not only new to the British Fauna, but a hi-
therto undescribed species. I have, therefore, ventured
to assign to it a specific name, and I have chosen that at
the head of this article, as a proper compliment to the
first of existing Erpetologists, and one of the most amiable
of men.

The principal distinctions between the species are the
following: —In Triton Bibronii the skin is remarkably
rugous, and the tubercles are more numerous and more
elevated than in T'r. cristatus. The tubercle at the base
of the inner toe on each foot is much smaller, and in
some cases scarcely perceptible. The most tangible pecu-
liarity, however, is in the form of the upper lip, which
in the present species is perfectly straight, whereas in T'r.
cristatus it considerably overhangs the margin of the lower
jaw. By this character the two species may be at once
distinguished. With regard to coloration and markings,
there is but little difference ; I have thought, however, that
the present species is somewhat darker, and the spots on the
sides less distinct.

The structural characters which distinguish Tr. Bibronit
from J'r. marmoratus, are also comparative and slight. In
the latter, the rugosity of the skin is less considerable, and
the upper lip, instead of being absolutely straight as in our
species, has a slight enlargement towards the junction of the
lips. But the markings and coloration are widely different ;
the upper parts being beautifully marbled with grey, with a

STRAIT-LIPPED WARTY-NEWT. 131

white line along the mesial line of the back, and the belly
irregularly mottled.

I give a comparative view of the head of T'r. cristatus
and of T'r. Bibroniz, by a reference to which any one may
readily determine the species.

132 =
Oe SALAMANDRIDE.,

URODELA. SALAMANDRIDA.

Wy, Y/)

3

Genus, Lissotriton, mihi.

SMOOTH-NEWT.
Generic Character.—Tongue, teeth, and feet, as in the genus Triton. Skin

smooth ; two patches of pores on the head ; none on the back or sides. Dorsal
and caudal crests continuous.

COMMON SMOOTH-NEWT.
SMALL NEWT, EFT, OR EVET.

Lissotriton punctatus.

Specific Character.— Upper lip straight, not overhanging the lower.

Lacerta aquatica, Lixn. Syst. Nat. I. p. 370 (?). Suaw, Gen. Zool. IIT.
p- 298, t. Ixxxili,

COMMON SMOOTH NEWT, 135

Lacerta maculata, Suere. in Linn. Trans, VII. p. 53. Turron, Brit.
Faun. p. 79.
Salamandra punctata, Daup. Rept. VILL. p. 267. Larr. Salam. de France,
p- 53, sp. 6, t. vi. f. 6.
? Triton Palustris, | Laur. Spec. Med. pp. 39. 145, t. iv. f. 2.
» aquaticus, Frem. brit. Anim. p. 158, sp. 7.
»» punctatus, Frrztnc. Nat. Class. Rept. p. 66, sp. 8. Bonav. Icon.
Faun. Ital. Jexyns, Brit. Veit. p. 304.
Molge punctata, Merr. Syst. Amph. p. 186, sp. 4.
Brown Lizard, Penn. Brit. Zool. III. p. 23, t. i1.

Tue size of this small and common species would distin-
guish it at once from the former in its adult state, and from
younger individuals it may be readily known by the difference
of colour, and the absence of all warts and tubercles on the
skin, which is, indeed, almost as smooth as that of the
Frog. This latter character has led me to believe that the
two forms might with great propriety be considered as gene-
rically distinct, upon the same principle as that which has led
to the separation of the Toads from the Frogs ; although it
must be confessed that, in the latter case, the habits of the
two groups offer a much greater discrepancy, the relations
between the Frogs and Toads presenting rather an analogy
with that between the smooth Newts and the true or ter-
restrial Salamanders. Thus a tolerably continuous chain of
affinity may be traced from the Smooth Newts, through the
tuberculated Newts, and the Geotritons of the Prince of
Musigiano, to the true terrestrial form of the Salamanders,
which last are even more strikingly characterized by a tuber-
culated and porous skin than either of the other forms. ‘The
separation of the present animals from the genus Salamandra
was an essential step, for which we are indebted to Laurenti,
although there may be some objection to the name ‘Triton,
which he applied to them, on account of its having been al-
ready assigned by Linneus to the inhabitants of certain
shells. As, however, the principle upon which he did this,—
namely, the adoption of a distinct nomenclature for the

134 SALAMANDRIDE.

animals and their shells, has long since been very properly
exploded, and as the application of the name Triton to a
genus of Buccinoid Mollusca, although universally adopted,
is of later date than its application to the animals now under
consideration, it must be retained by these.

The whole of the Salamandride require a thorough ex-
amination, in order that the relations of the different groups
may be properly appreciated, and their characters fully estab-
lished. Muchhas lately been done by M. Tschudi, of Neuf-
chatel, but much remains yet to be done; and there is no
doubt that the same extensive information, and the same deep
research, which have characterised the volumes hitherto pub-
lished of the ‘* Histoire des Reptiles,” of Messrs. Dumeril
and Bibron, will not be wanting in the Classification and
History of the Amphibia, which will form a portion of that
work, and will, I hope, appear very soon. From the consi-
derations already stated, I think it necessary to separate
under a new generic name, the two species of Smooth-skinned
Newts inhabiting this country, as they present many struc-
tural distinctions from the large tuberculated species already
described. These distinctions are briefly given in the ge-
neric character at the head of this article, and appear to me
sufficiently important to warrant the view I have taken.

The Common, or Small Newt, is found in almost every ditch
and pond, especially in those in which the waters are clean, in
considerable numbers ; and affords food to the larger species
just described, as well as to different kinds of fish. Its own
food consists of small aquatic insects, both in their perfect
and, especially, in their larva state, and of small aquatic
worms and Mollusca ; they also rise to take gnats, &c. which
settle on the surface of the water.

The reproduction and metamorphosis of this species differ
very little from those of the former. I have observed that in

depositing their eggs, they do not so constantly place them

COMMON SMOOTH-NEWT. 135

within a folded leaf, but frequently in the axille of the
leaves; in which situation I have very often observed the
females in the act of placing them, and sometimes by two,
three, or four together. The pursuit of the male after the
female differs also in some respects. He follows her in
swimming for a considerable time; they do not, as in the
former instance, necessarily rest upon the ground; and the
tail of the male is doubled forwards in a sort of loop, and
vibrated with a rapid tremulous motion. The changes which
take place in the developement of the embryo are similar to
those already described in the former species. The seasonal
changes, however, are still more curious and varied than in
the two species of Triton, and deserve a more detailed de-
scription, especially as these differences have led to much
misunderstanding by the establishment of erroneous specific
names, and consequent confusion of synonyms.

In the month of June the young animals have in many
cases lost their branchiz by absorption, and very soon after-
wards a great number of them at least quit the water, and
remain on land. Many of the adults also become terrestrial
soon after this period, creeping about amongst the herbage
in the neighbourhood of the water, or in damp places, fre-
quently concealing themselves amongst the roots of shrubs
and plants, and sometimes even venturing into damp cellars.
The males about this time lose the membranous crest and
enlargement of the caudal web, which had distinguished

them during the spring. The colours also of both sexes be-
come more dull, and the male especially loses in a measure

136 SALAMANDRIDE.

the bright and pleasing tints which characterize him during
that season. The red tips to the crenations of the crest and
tail are of course no longer seen as these parts become ab-
sorbed ; but the colour of the body is also. more obscure, and
the spots less distinct ; the belly, which has been of a bright
orange passing into red, is now paler and less vivid.

It is probable that the period at which the young lose their
branchiz varies in some degree according to circumstances
connected with temperature, food, and other causes; as they
are sometimes taken with the branchie still remaining on
them, when conspicuously larger than other individuals,
which have lost these organs.* The growth of the young
animals during the summer and autumn is very rapid; so
that they attain nearly their adult size the first year.
Very early in the winter the crest of the male begins to
make its appearance, and by the beginning of the year it is
conspicuous.

The result of a partial and hasty observation of these cir-
cumstances has been that naturalists have described thie same
species, in different conditions, as being specifically distinct.
Shaw, in his General Zoology, asserts that the Common
Newt is ‘‘ altogether a terrestrial species,” and contests even
the statement of Linneus, that it inhabits water during its
larva state. ‘‘ I can,” proceeds Dr. Shaw, “ safely affirm
that I have more than once met with specimens in perfectly
dry situations, so extremely minute as scarcely to equal half
an inch in length, which appeared to differ in no respect,
except in magnitude, from the full-grown animal.” Now it
is here evident that he had met with the young and the adult
of this species when they had left the water for their autumnal
visit to the land, and the branchiz of the one, and the dorsal

* There is in the Museum of the Zoological Society an interesting Series of
Specimens exhibiting these facts. They were collected by Mr. Blyth, and
the bottles are furnished with his observations.

COMMON SMOOTH-NEWT. 137

crest of the other were both lost. The Rev. Revett Shep-
pard has still farther confused the question; but, as these
mistakes arose altogether from the want of a proper consider-
ation of the characters of the group, and of closer observation
of the habits of the animals, and as both these points are now
cleared up, it is unnecessary to enter farther into the subject.

It was on this species principally that Spallanzani tried his
well known experiments on the reproduction of portions of the
extremities and of the tail; and he found that the same mem-
ber will be reproduced several times in succession on being
cut off, and this with the bones, muscles, vessels, and nerves
belonging to its original state. Its tenacity of life, like
that of most other cold-blooded vertebrate animals, is a re-
markable feature in its functional character. It has been
frozen in a solid block of ice, and when slowly thawed, it has
appeared scarcely injured.

The food of this species is similar to that of the larger
species. Like them, it not only eats aquatic insects and
small Mollusca and worms, but swallows the tadpoles of the
Frog and Toad with great avidity.

It is almost unnecessary to say that the accusation of being
poisonous, so generally believed by the lower classes in most
parts of the country, is wholly unfounded.

The word Eft, or Evet, by which the whole of these ani-
mals are designated in many parts of the country, is Anglo-
Saxon ; “‘ Efete,—an Eft, a Newt, a Lizard,” says Somner.
«¢T know not,” says Skinner, ‘‘ whether from Ef-an, equals,
from the smoothness and evenness of the skin.” Junius sug-
gests that Newt is corrupted from an evet, a nevet, a newt.

The whole of the skin in this species is quite smooth ;
there are no tubercles, but on the head are two rows of pores.
Tail terminating in a sharp point. The lip is perfectly
straight, in which it differs from the next species. The crest of
the back and tail in the male are, during the season of repro-

138 SALAMANDRIDE.

duction, very much developed, and are continuous ; the mar-
gin is crenate throughout its length. The colour varies very
much in the course of the year, and even in different indivi-
duals at the same period. That of the male is also very
different from that of the female. The former is brownish
grey above, passing into yellow beneath, which in the spring
becomes a rich bright orange ; marked everywhere with round
dark spots of unequal size, but much larger and less numerous
than in the next species L. palmipes. On the head are two
longitudinal streaks. 'The crenations of the crest, in the spring
season, are often tipped with bright red or violet. The fe-
male is usually light yellowish brown, or even buff with scat-
tered brown dots, and the belly often quite plain.

In. Lines.
Total length : 2 4 a Sak je!
Length of tail 5 5 : : is

The tail-piece gives an outline of the head of Lissotriton
punctatus and of L. palmipes, for the purpose of exhibiting
the difference in the form of the lip.

PALMATED SMOOTH NEWT. 139

URODELA. SALAMANDRIDZ.

PALMATED SMOOTH-NEWT.

Lissotriton palmipes.

Specific Character. — Upper lip pendulous at the sides, overhanging the
under in a distinct festoon, as far as the base of the lower jaw. Toes of hinder
feet fringed with a short membrane at all seasons.

Triton palmipes, Latr. Hist. des Salam, de Fr.
Var.
Triton vittatus, Gray, MS. Brit. Mus. Jenyns, Brit. Vert. p. 305.

Icon. Quer. Iconol. du Reg. Anim.
Salamandre ceinturée, Latr. Salan. de France.

Ir is now many years since I separated a specimen of a
British Newt from several specimens of the common species
in my own collection, with the conviction, from a consideration
of the markings only, that it was specifically distinct, but

140 SALAMANDRID#.

without, at that time, observing any structural difference.
On examining the English Newts in the collection of the
Zoological Society, I find a bottle containing several speci-
mens of both sexes, collected by Mr. Blyth at Tooting,
and separated, I have reason to believe, by M. Bibron,
when last in this country. I have since received from him
specimens of the four French species of Newts, amongst
which are some cf the present species, which prove to be
identical with the specimens I have just mentioned in my
own collection, and that of the Zoological Society ; and on
looking over those in the British Museum, I have found
many specimens in bottles, mixed promiscuously with the
common species, and ticketed 7'r. vulgaris. From all these
circumstances, I am convinced that it is very common in this
country, but that it has been overlooked in consequence of its
general resemblance to the species last described.

It differs from that species in being of larger size, in the
upper lip being pendulous at the sides, where it forms a sort
of lobe, reaching to the base of the lower jaw, and in the toes
being furnished with a considerable fringe of skin. The
spots which cover the body both above and below are more
numerous and smaller, and their outline is more distinctly
defined, and the head is elegantly marked with brown lon-
gitudinal lines.

It appears to be liable to considerable variation in colour
and markings. I possess a female specimen which is of a
very dark brown above, and the belly minutely punctated
with black ; and there is a space or band running along the
side almost bare of spots. But the most remarkable variety
is that which has been described by Mr. Gray and after him
by Mr. Jenyns asa species, under the name of T'riton vittatus,
the ground colour of which is white, ‘ with unequal black
spots ; tail black; belly, under sides of the legs and tail,
and a broad streak along each side of the body and tail,

PALMATED SMOOTH-NEWT. 141

”

white.” I have carefully examined the specimens in the
British Museum, and am convinced that it is to be con-
sidered as a variety only of the present species ; there is not
the slightest structural difference between them, they are the
same in size and form, and the lip is equally pendulous.
This opinion is much confirmed by the circumstance that
Latreille describes his palmipes as having the belly white,
which was doubtless given from a specimen departing from
the usual character of the species, and approaching to the
present variety. It is also, in all probability, the Salamandre
cetnturée of Latreille. Its claim to a British locality rests,
as Mr. Gray informs me, upon its having been found in
the British Museum in a bottle containing other British
specimens, and marked ‘ England.” There is no reason,
therefore, to doubt that they are British, and there is ground
for believing that they were taken at no great distance from

London.

142 SALAMANDRIDE.

Having given my own reasons for my entire conviction
that T'riton vittatus of Gray is a variety only of the present
species, I think it right, in justice to Mr. Gray, to add the
following extract of a note which I have received from him
on this subject :—

“My Salamandra vittata, which has been figured by
Guerin, who has adopted my name, belongs to the same
group as the former [ 7'riton cristatus]. It agrees with it in
having the crest interrupted over the loins, and chiefly differs
from it in having smaller tubercles, and in colour. It is
easily known both from S. palustris [T'r. cristatus], and
from Triton punctatus, by the wide black-edged white streak
along the lower part of each side of the body, &c. The
head is much larger and more depressed than that of any of
the varieties of 7'r. punctatus.”

I have only to add that I differ entirely from these opinions
of Mr. Gray, and that the last-named character was only
found in one specimen of those of the British Museum, the
others having the head of the same proportional size as in
Lissotriton palmipes. The exception was probably acci-

dental.

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