DEVELOPMENT OF NEWTS, 57 



or even when you are observing the movements of 

 any of the creatures through your magnifying glass. 

 One of their habits is that of casting their skin, which 

 is sloughed off whole, so that it can be afterwards 



o 7 



collected and mounted. This process usually takes 

 place when the breeding season is over, and male and 

 female are assuming their winter skins. 



We have one or two other native species of newt 

 which are much rarer, and more locally distributed 

 than the above, which would do equally well as objects 

 for the aquarium. These are the straight-lipped warty 

 newt ( Triton Bibronii}, and the palmated smooth newt 

 (Lissotriton palmipes), found near Tooting. The de- 

 velopment of the spawn of frogs and toads might also 

 be usefully studied in an aquarium, although care 

 would have to be taken that the quantity introduced 

 was not too great for the aquatic vegetation to supply 

 with oxygen. Very little attention has hitherto been 

 paid to the development of these common objects, 

 but there is no reason to believe it would be less 

 interesting than that of the newts. Although resem- 

 bling each other so much, the spawn of frogs and 

 toads may easily be identified by the fact that the 

 former occurs in lumps and the latter in single strings. 

 The eggs of toads are about a quarter of an inch in 

 diameter, and usually smaller than those of frogs. 



Where there is an abundance of newt or frog spawn 

 developing, several small fishes might be preserved to 

 keep down its undue development, always providing 



