410 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



stantly in the habit of rising to the surface of the water in order 

 to breathe. 



Many country people have great horror of these beautiful 

 and harmless little animals. In a little village in Wiltshire 

 there is a current anecdote of a girl who was bitten in the arm 

 by an effct, who spit fire into the wound. The girl consequently 

 lost her arm. Some of these newts or efts were placed in a 

 trough where the cows were accustomed to drink. After a few 



O 



days a calf died, and nothing would convince the rustics that 

 the efTets were not the cause of the untimely decease of the 

 calf, although it had never come near the trough, but was safely 

 fastened in the cow-house. The male Newt is distinguished by 

 a beautiful crimson-tipped wavy crest of loose skin, that extends 

 along the whole course of the back and tail,* and which, to- 

 gether with the rich orange-coloured belly, makes it a most beau- 

 tiful creature. The female has a singular habit of laying her 

 eggs upon long leaves of water-plants, and actually tying them 

 in the leaf by a regular knot. 



Order V. . . MEANT! A. (Lat. gliding animals.') 

 Family T. . . Proteida. 



PROTEUS. {Proper name.) 



Anguinus (Lat. like a Snake), the Proteus. 



The PROTEUS is an extraordinary animal, which has been 

 found in dark subterranean lakes, many hundred feet below 



* This crest is represented in the engraving, but it does not remain erect while the 

 eft is on the land, but falls over the back and can hardly be discerned. In the water, 

 it is erect, and constantly undulating. 



