SALAMANDERS. 269 



be absorbed, and his brilliant lines disappear ; 

 bnt these begin to be both renewed about the 

 close of the year. 



The Newts cast their skins at short but irregu- 

 lar intervals. From seven individuals, kept by 

 Mr. Baker for several months in a jar of water, 

 for the purposes of observation, it appears that 

 they generally perform this operation at the end 

 of every fortnight or three weeks. He informs 

 us, that for a day or two before the change, 

 the animal always appeared more inactive than 

 usual, taking no notice of the worms that were 

 given to it, which, at other times, it greedily 

 devoured. The skin in some parts of the body 

 appeared loose, and in colour not so lively as 

 before. The animal began the operation of 

 casting its skin, by loosening that part about 

 the jaws. It then pushed it backward gently 

 and gradually, both above and below the head, 

 till it was able to slip out first one leg and then 

 the other. With these legs it proceeded to 

 thrust the skin as far backward as they could 

 reach. This done, it was under the necessity 

 of rubbing its body against the gravel at the 

 bottom of the water, till it was more than half 

 freed from the skin, which appeared doubled 

 back, covering the hinder part of the body 

 and the tail. The animal now bent back its 

 head, taking the skin in his mouth ; and then 

 set its feet upon it, and, by degrees, drew it 

 entirely off; the hind legs being dragged out 

 in the same manner that the others had been 

 before. On examining the skin, it was, in 

 every instance, found to be turned inside out, 

 but without any breach except at the jaws. 



