Batrachian Study 197 



THE NEWT, EFT, OR SALAMANDER 



Teacher's Story 



FTER a rain in spring or summer, we see these little orange-red 

 creatures sprawling along roads or woodland paths, and 

 since they are rarely seen except after rain, the wise people 

 of old, declared they rained down, which was an easy way 

 for explaining their presence. But the newts do not rain 

 down, they rain up instead, since if they have journeys to make they 

 must needs go forth when the ground is wet, otherwise they would dry 

 up and die. Thus, the newts make^a practice of never going out except 

 when it rains. A closer view of the eft shows plenty of peculiarities 

 in its appearance to interest us. Its colors are decidedly gay, the body 

 color being orange, ornamented with vermilion dots along each side of 

 the back, each red dot margined with tiny black specks; but the eft is 

 careless about these decorations and may have more spots on one side 

 than on the other. Besides these vermilion dots, it is also adorned 

 with black specks here and there, and especially along its sides looks as 

 if it had been peppered. The newt's greatest beauty lies in its eyes; 

 these are black, with elongated pupils, almost parallel with the length of 

 the head, and bordered above and below with bands of golden, shining iris 

 which give the eyes a fascinating brilliancy. The nostrils are mere pin- 

 holes in the end of the snout. 



The legs and feet look queerly inadequate for such a long body, since 

 they are short and far apart. There are four toes on the front feet and 

 five on the hind feet, the latter being decidedly pudgy. The legs are 

 thinner where they join the body and wider toward the feet. The eft 

 can move very rapidly with its scant equipment of legs. It has a mis- 

 leading way of remaining motionless for a long time and then darting 

 forward like a flash, its long body falling into graceful curves as it moves. 

 But it can go very slowly when exploring; it then places its little hands 

 cautiously and lifts its head as high as its short arms will allow, in order to 

 take observations. Although it can see quite well, yet on an unusual 

 surface, like glass, it seems to feel the way by touching its lower lip to the 

 surface as if to test it. The tail is flattened at the sides and is used to 

 twine around objects in time of need ; and I am sure it is also used to push 

 the eft while crawling, for it curves this way and that vigorously, as the 

 feet progress, and obviously pushes against the ground. Then, too, the 

 tail is an aid when, by some chance, the eft is turned over on its back, for 

 with its help, it can right itself speedily. The eft's method of walking is 

 interesting; it moves forward one front foot and then the hind foot on 

 the other side ; after a stop for rest, it begins just where it left off when 

 it again starts on. Its beautiful eyes seem to serve the newt well indeed, 

 for I find that, when it sees my face approaching the moss jar, it climbs 

 promptly over to the other side. There are no eyelids for the golden 

 eyes, but the eft can pull them back into its head and close the slit after 

 them, thus making them very safe. 



The eft with whose acquaintance I was most favored, was not yet 

 mature and was afraid of earthworms ; but he was very fond of plant-lice 

 and it was fun to see the little creature stalking them. A big rose plant- 

 louse would be squirming with satisfaction as it sucked the juice of the 

 leaf, when the eft would catch sight of it and become greatly 



