COMMON SMOOTH-NEWT. 147 



individuals, which have lost these organs.* The growth 

 of the young animals during the summer and autumn is 

 very rapid ; so that they attain nearly their adult size the 

 first year. Very early in the winter the crest of the male 

 begins to make its appearance, and by the beginning of the 

 year it is conspicuous. 



The result of a partial and hasty observation of these 

 circumstances has been that naturalists have described the 

 same species, in different conditions, as being specifically 

 distinct. Shaw, in his General Zoology, asserts that the 

 Common Newt is " altogether a terrestial species, 11 and 

 contests even the statement of Linnaeus, that it inhabits 

 water during its larva state. " I can, 11 proceeds Dr. Shaw, 

 " safely affirm that I have more than once met with speci- 

 mens in perfectly dry situations, so extremely minute as 

 scarcely to equal half an inch in length, which appeared to 

 differ in no respect, except in magnitude, from the full- 

 grown animal. 11 Now it is here evident that he had met 

 with the young and the adult of this species when they had 

 left the water for their autumnal visit to the land, and the 

 branchise of the one, and the dorsal crest of the other were 

 both lost. The Rev. Revett Sheppard has still farther con- 

 fused the question ; but, as these mistakes arose altogether 

 from the want of a proper consideration of the characters 

 of the group, and of closer observation of the habits of the 

 animals, and as both these points are now cleared up, it is 

 unnecessary to enter farther into the subject. 



For the following interesting observations on the mode 

 in which the change of skin is effected by this species 

 I am indebted to Mr. James Salter : — 



* There is in the Museum of the Zoological Society an interesting Series of 

 Specimens exhibiting these facts. They were collected by Mr. Blyth, and the 

 bottles are furnished with his observations. 



/, 2 



