FOOD AND CHEMICAL REACTIONS OF THE SPOTTED 

 NEWT, DIEMYCTYLUS VIRIDESCENS 



ALBERT M. REESE 

 West Virginia University, Morgantown, W. Va. 



Although Gage (3), Jordan (4), Monks (5), Pike (7), and others 

 have published observations upon the habits of this common newt 

 the writer is not aware of any experimental observations upon 

 the feeding habits nor upon the chemical reactions in general of 

 Diemyctylus. 



The species is fairly common in the neighborhood of Morgan- 

 town, and about a dozen specimens, all in the green stage, were 

 collected late in the autumn and kept in an aquarium in the 

 laboratory, where the experiments described below were carried 

 on. They were fed at intervals with earthworms and bits of 

 raw meat, and seemed to remain in a perfectly healthy con- 

 dition. 



Merely as a matter of convenience the following descriptions 

 will be given as a series of experiments. 



Experiment I. The object of this experiment was to deter- 

 mine whether the animals found their food by sight or by smell, 

 using the latter term to designate what Miss Washburn calls 

 the "telaesthetic sense" of aquatic animals. 



Most of the tests were made upon three animals that were 

 selected because of their especially healthy appetites, although 

 they had not been subjected to any especial starving process, 

 but had been fed, or at least offered food, at the same intervals 

 as the rest. 



The first animal followed actively a small roll of filter paper 

 held in fine -pointed forceps and seized it once or twice, but let 

 go of it immediately. It reacted the same way towards similar 

 rolls of white and of black raw cotton, but by this time seemed 

 fatigued so that it scarcely noticed a roll of yellow cloth. A 

 piece of raw meat of similar size and shape was now offered ; 

 it was immediately seized before it could be withdrawn and was 

 held to so tightly that the animal was lifted entirely out of the 

 water before it let go its hold. 



A day or so later, after snapping again and again at a piece 



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