The land form and coloration may be retained until the end of 

 the second or third year, when the animal matures and returns to 

 the water. 



Size. The adult length is about loo mm.; that of the immaiure 

 land form, about 70 mm. 



Habitat. The Newt starts out life in a fishless woodland pond 

 or a weedy bay. After about four months it changes to its air- 

 breathing form and goes to live under and around logs and stones 

 in damp woods. There it stays for two or three years, until sexually 

 mature. It then migrates back to the water, where it lives the rest 



Newt in the laud phase 



of its life unless the pond dries up, in which case it may hibernate 

 under some log. The Long Island Newts omit the land stage, and 

 I have been unable to find this stage here in an area where larval 

 adults are plentiful in the woodland pools. 



Breeding Habits. The breeding habits of the Newt have al- 

 ready been described in part at the beginning of the section on 

 amphibia. During the fall the pairs couple in a love play which 

 may last an hour or so and may continue on sunny days through- 

 out the winter. In April the male glues club-shaped spermatophores 

 to the bottom debris and the female takes one into her vent. Soon 

 the female swims up to a leafy water plant, grasps a leaf between 

 her hind legs, bends it down and deposits a single egg. She then 

 bends the leaf back over the egg in such a way as to conceal it. 

 Egg laying may continue for weeks. The eggs hatch in 20 to 35 

 days at outdoor temperatures. 



Food. The newly hatched Newts seem to eat algal ooze and 

 microscopic crustaceans, but I have never been able to rear them 

 to the land stage on such a diet. Older Newts eat worms, insects of 



[49] 



