CHAPTER XVII 



THE NEWT AND ITS ALLIES 



THE newts belong to the class Amphibia, 1 or, as it is 

 also called, Batrachia, characterized by the fact that, while 

 they have no rayed fins like fishes, but legs instead, they 

 have functional gills during at least a part of their free 

 life. The eggs, which are laid in water, are without a 

 hard shell. 



The little newt Diemyctylus viridescens 2 is found in 

 New England and westward to the Mississippi valley. 

 During different stages of development it assumes widely 

 different habits. The eggs are laid during the spring in 

 water, where they hatch after three to five weeks and 

 appear as olive-colored tadpoles with external gills. At 

 this time they have an exclusively animal diet, feeding on 

 minute Crustacea, larval insects, snails, and aquatic worms. 

 In August the gills and tail-fin become absorbed, and the 

 transformed animal takes to land and lives under stones 

 at some distance, it may be, from water. At this time it 

 has a vermilion color, 3 and feeds on spiders, insects, and 

 earthworms. After two or three years the newt assumes a 



1 Keys to the Orders of Amphibia and to the families of Urodela will 

 be found in the Appendix to this Chapter, page 266. 



2 The newt of the Pacific coast is D. torosus. 



3 The color and habitat of the terrestrial young Diemyctylus are so 

 different from the fully matured aquatic form that the two were formerly 

 regarded as distinct species. 



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