250 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS 



females in the possession of high dorsal crests, and other 

 nuptial ornaments. When the breeding season is over 

 they, as a rule, leave the water, and retreat to holes in the 

 ground in the neighbourhood of the water, where they 

 live on insects and worms. 



All newts lay eggs, these being attached, usually singly, 

 sometimes in small batches, to submerged weeds or stones. 

 The larvae leave the egg in from ten days to three weeks' 

 time, according to the species and the temperature of the 

 water. Although in some special localities the larvae, 

 instead of transforming, retain their larval form and breed 

 in that condition, transformation as a rule takes place 

 three or four months after hatching. 



The genus contains twenty species, three of which are 

 indigenous to Great Britain. 



The Common Newt, or Smooth Newt, M. vulgaris, 

 which attains a total length of from three to four 

 inches, has the skin perfectly smooth. The male has a 

 high and elevated festooned crest, which is continuous 

 with that of the tail. In the female the crest is represented 

 by merely a ridge. The limbs are moderately long, and 

 the toes, which are free in the female, but bordered with 

 lobes of skin in the male, are much depressed. The tail, 

 which is a little longer than the head and body, is bordered 

 both above and below with a crest, the upper part of which, 

 in the male, is festooned like that of the back. The upper 

 parts are olive brown, with round black spots in the male ; 

 the festoons of the dorsal crest are usually tipped with red. 



The female has often a series of dark dots, or a dark line, 

 on each side of the back. The lower parts are yellowish- 

 white, with a median orange stripe, spotted with black ; 

 the spots, which are larger in the male than in the female, 



