Ɛpsilon

WCP2295

Letter (WCP2295.2185)

[1]

7, North Bank,

N.W.

March 21st 1873

My dear Wallace

You and Mrs Wallace1 have been in my thoughts anent daffodils &c which I want you to see but how manage it this weather?

As to Batrachians I will say all I can now as I am not likely soon to bring anything out about them. Ophiomorpha containing only a few genera one need say nothing about.

As to the Urodela I would not take Gray's2 arrangement3 in their case any more than in any other — He makes sad confusion & gives endless trouble to those who work after him.

[2] The primary subdivisions of the Urodela used to be easy enough when one thought permanent gills an important character but now the [illeg.] has upset that & it seems to be not improbable that Menobranchus may only be a persistent larva of some lost Spelerpes[.]

What then are we to think of Proteus & Siren?

Still as this is a mere conjecture about Menobranchus I suppose I must for the present be put with Proteus

I think I should divide the order into 4 families

  • Sirenidae — Siren

2. Proteidae — Proteus & Menobranchus

[3] 3. Amphiumidae - Amphiuma

4. Salamandridae Salamanda, Triton

Cynops,Taricha , Seiranota,

Notophthalmus, Chioglossa,

Hynobius, Onychodactylus

Amblystoma, Aneides * Plethodon, Heredia+, Desmognathus, Hemidactylium, Batrachoseps

Spelerpes, Geotriton, Oedipus

Sieboldia — Menopoma

____________________

My new genus Pectoglossa (P. Z. S. 1867. p. 698)4 is only Amblystoma,

Geotriton is interesting as the only form with sphenoidal teeth inhabiting the old world [.]

____________________

I need not refer you to the Fauna. Japonica Gray has described a new genus (which I believe good) a few years ago the specimen is in the B. Mus but I have not seen it.

____________________

  • For Aneides see Baird's Iconographic Cyclopedia II (1st Edition) 1849 p. 256 & Herpetology of U States
  • Exploring Expedition under C. Wilkes U. S. N. Pl. I. figs. 26-33 Proc. Acad. Philadelph. VIII. 1856. p. 141 & p. 235

[4] Günther told me that someone on the Continent (I think a Russian) had recently published a work on the Urodela.

With much kind regards | I am| Yours very truly | G J Mivart5 [signature]

I will look over Tables with pleasure

I add a list of the Genera in Grays Catalogue which I convinced myself (when I carefully went through the B. Mus Collection) were superfluous[.]

Bradybates = Pleurodeles
Euproctus.
Ommatotriton All these I believe
Lophinus are really Triton
Cynops
Taricha

Molge is only a species of Hynobius.

Heterotriton
Xiphonura are really Amblystoma
Ensatina

Oedipus is a kind of Spelerpes.

1
Wallace (née Mitten), Annie (1846-1914). British. Wife of ARW; daughter of William Mitten.
2
Gray, John Edward (1800-1875). British zoologist and curator at the British Museum.
3

Gray, J. E. 1850. Catalogue of the Specimens of Amphibia of the Collection of the British Museum Part II. Batrachia Gradientia, etc. London: The Trustees of the British

Museum.

4
Mivart, St. George Jackson. 1867. On Plethodon persimilis of Gray. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. [pp. 695-699].
5
Mivart, St. George Jackson (1827-1900). British physician, zoologist and Roman Catholic polemicist.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP2295.2185)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcription checked by Siewert, Betsy [2020-10-30] Transcription checked by Ghosh, Susan [2022-06-18] Transcription checked by Lucas, Paula [2022-06-18] Transcribed by Ghosh, Susan [2022-06-19] Transcription checked by Chua, Christine [2026-04-18]

Please cite as “WCP2295,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP2295