78 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



access of the water, as these ova were hatched while lying in the "bottom 

 of the vessel, and had heen knocking about for several hours, in a small bottle, 

 in my pocket, previous to having been placed in the window. I do not 

 mean to assert that the ova are not deposited also singly in the folded 

 leaves, but merely that they are not necessarily so. The progress of their far- 

 ther metamorphosis has been so well detailed by Bell that a lengthened descrip- 

 tion on my part were superfluous ; suffice it to state, that the newts lived with 

 me for fourteen days from the day they were hatched, and five weeks from their 

 extrusion as ova ; they then died, and, at this period, the most forward had the 

 anterior extremities well-formed, and the situation of the posterior marked by a 

 protuberance on each side, as you may see. 



With respect to fecundation, my observations would lead me to corroborate 

 Professor Bell's statement, in opposition to the belief of Kusconi and others, 

 including Higginbottom — i.e., I believe it is to be internal, with actual contact. 

 This species is distributed through the entire of this county (Dublin), even at 

 considerable elevations above the sea. I have found them near the summit 

 of Howth, and in every quarry-hole among the Dublin and Wicklow mountains. 

 It is known by several names — in its aquatic state, as man-keepers, man-eaters, 

 dark-leakers, daddy-leukers, and art-leukers; and, in its terrestrial stage, as the 

 dry ask and lizard. It is much earlier in awaking from its hibernation, and seeking 

 the water here than in the midland counties of England. I generally find them in 

 the ponds in the Bishop's Fields, about the second week in February. In other 

 parts of Ireland they are pretty generally distributed. Thompson states, " occur- 

 ring from north to south, but not generally distributed ;" and in his comparative 

 list records it in Belfist, Dublin, and the west. There are numerous specimens of 

 this species, obtained in the north, in the Ordnance Survey collection, now in the 

 Museum of Irish Industry. I have obtained it in, or received specimens from the 

 following places : — North of Clare, rare ; Tipperary, north, scarce ; south, common ; 

 King's County, Kildare, Wicklow, Wexford (where it is also called E vet) ; Kil- 

 kenny, on the authority of the Rev. J. Graves, who informs me it there goes by 

 the name of dark leuker, which, he suggests, is derived either from dearc, a reptile, 

 and leucair, brightness — i.e., the shining reptile ; or from luacrac — i.e., the reptile 

 dwelling in rushy places — by this name it is known all over Ireland. It is also, I am 

 informed, found in Louth, Queen's County, and Carlow. It is omitted in the 

 catalogue of the Cork Cuverian Society ; and I searched for it unsuccessfully about 

 Youghal and Ardmore, thouih I have reason to believe it is found in part, at least, 

 of the County Waterford. Rutty, in his "Natural History of Dublin," mentions 

 this animal among " the quadrupeds," in its two states, as distinct species : — 1st. The 

 dry ask, or man - keeper ; 2. The water ask, or arglogher (the last manifestly the 

 same word as dark leuker, which name, in some parts of the County Dublin, is 

 pronounced art looker). He mentions, for the purpose of contradiction, two 

 traditions, connected with it as current in his time — 1st. That it is poisonous. 

 2nd, That it can live in the midst of fire. With respect to its popular name, I 

 find some of the lower orders call both the dry ask and the water ask, man-keeper 

 or man-eater, while the names dark leuker, &c, are restricted to the animal in its 

 aquatic state. In Scotland, in Gaelic, the animal is also called Dearc luachrach. 

 I rind, also, that, in part of Kilkenny, it is also called Derrig na dioul — a name 

 properly applied to one of the Staphylinidae. This brings me to the third part of 

 m J paper — viz., the superstitions connected with this animal ; there are several of 

 these curious and interesting, as having a connection with the religious belief of the 

 former inhabitants of this country, and are now fast dying away. In almost every 

 part of the country we find these animals looked on with disgust and horror, if not 

 with dread ; this arises from two superstitions — one, common to a great part of 

 Ireland, relating chiefly to the animal in its aquatic state, and which, in the County 

 of Dublin has earned it the names of man-eater and man-keeper, though the 

 dry ask of the county of Dublin — i.e., the animal in its terrestrial stage, is supposed 

 to be equally guilty with the first-mentioned in the habit of going down the throats 

 of those people who are so silly as either to go to sleep in the fields with their 

 mouths open, or to drink from the streams in which the dark leukers harbour; 

 thev are also said to be swallowed by the thirsty cattle; in consequence, the country 



