54 



AMPHIBIANS AND FISHES. 



drop their tails and gills when they leave the water 

 for the land. The real fact is that both these organs 

 are absorbed and utilised, and are not dropped or 

 shed at all. 



The smooth newt is quite as common as the warty, 

 and its habits are perhaps quite as interesting to the 

 observer. The dorsal crest of the male is not toothed, 



Fig. ii. 



Adult male of Smooth Newt 

 Fig. 12. 



Adult female of Smooth Newt. 



like that of the warty newt, although it is wavy in its 

 outline. Both male and female indulge in graceful 

 evolutions, and not unfrequently may be seen chasing 

 each other in frolicsome sport. The female is exceed- 

 ingly cautious in selecting the proper places for the 

 deposition of her eggs ; and the process of laying them 

 singly or in pairs, and afterwards of folding up the 

 leaves of the plant around them, so as to screen them 



