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Show 834 MR. SCLATER ON TWO NEWTS FROM BRUSSA. [Nov. 1 /, " No. 1 was lost; No. 2 I put in spirits and sent with some other things to the British Museum, somewhere about the 25th March last. No. 3 I kept alive for some time and eventually sent to the Society. I used to feed it on cockroaches by putting an old butterfly-net over the cage, and turning in five or six cockroaches at a time. I noticed both that it used to make some shocking bad shots at the animals and also (perhaps from confinement) that the viscid matter at the end of the tongue seemed unable at times to hold the insect. I think all three specimens were of about the same size and colour when caught. No. 3 was generally of a dark dull grey while in captivity, but got happier when I gave him a Parrot's cage and some branching stems, and hung him up in a creeper; he then sometimes assumed the green and reddish-brown markings. They had all most villanous tempers, spitting and hissing in an awful manner, and looked ferocious and alarming. I caught No. 3 by giving him the stick of m y butterfly-net to hold in his feet, and then catching him by the finger and thumb of the other hand ; he had the comb over one eye and part of the crest broken, but that was done before I caught him. No. 2 bit m y finger, and his hard bony jaws crushed the flesh considerably, and tore the skin away when pulling him off, as he would not let go. I do not think I can tell you anything more about the habits &c. of this Lizard ; but I hope these notes, such as they are, may be useful. "I caught an example of another species of Chameleon once at Aden, I think March 30, 1884; it was about four inches long, of a dull purple-red colour. I took this also at Huswah on Dipteryyium glaucum, and sent it in spirit to the British Museum, though not in the same bottle as the big one." Mr. Sclater exhibited two Newts transmitted to the Society by Dr. E. B. Dickson of Constantinople, Corresponding Member, bv whom they had been obtained from Brussa. Dr. Dickson gave the subjoined descriptions of the colours of the specimens when alive. " These Salamanders when alive were covered all over with green spots and had four stripes along the underparts of their bodies. The upper and third stripe were narrow, and of a dusky-green hue ; between them there was a broader stripe of a silvery-white colour and underneath them all a broader band of an orange colour, which constituted also the colour of the under surface of the belly. Eyes round : iris golden, tinged with dusky. The tail large, of a lanceolate form and dotted with dark spots; the upper ones of a lighter shade than the lower ones. These spots are separated into two horizontal rows by an extension of the silvery band which exists on the body of the animal. A high crest extends from the muzzle, in front of the eyes, to the root of the tail, and contains sixteen upright rays of a greenish hue, ending in points. The intervals between the rays, are dotted with spots. ' Semender' is the Turkish name for these Salamanders." Mr. Boulenger had kindly determined these specimens to be Molge vittata (Cat. Batr. Grad. 2nd ed. 1882, p, 13). |
