April,"! Davey, Breeding of English Newts in Victoria. I91 



being laid during that night, and by the 24th November more 

 larvae were hatching out. 



Before leaving the eggs, four longitudinal lines of black spots 

 (pigment), gills, and eyes were plainly visible ; larvae continued 

 hatching out until the 30th November. The first hatched larvae 

 were by this time becoming quite strong, and could be observed 

 hanging on to the side of the vessel that held them by means of 

 their claspers, mostly about two inches beneath the surface of 

 water. All larvae when newly hatched lay on their sides for a 

 few days, the same as newly hatched fish do. The front legs 

 make their appearance very soon after hatching ; in this they 

 differ very much from the tadpoles of frogs, as these attain to a 

 good development before legs appear, and then it is always the 

 'hind legs that appear first, whereas in the newts the front legs 

 appear first, and are developed externally, whereas in frogs the 

 front legs are developed beneath the skin and then burst out, 

 so that it oftens happens that a frog tadpole is seen swimming 

 about with three well-developed legs, and a little later the 

 fourth leg will force its way out, after which the tail is rapidly 

 absorbed. On the 23rd December hind legs were appearing in 

 the larvae, and by the ist January some of the larvae were two 

 inches long, and by the igth January a number of them could 

 eat very small worms. 



At this time it was very noticeable the great difference in 

 sizes of larvae, some being over two inches long, while others 

 were barely half an inch. On 20th January larvae, although 

 still having large branching gills, commenced rising for air like 

 adult newts, showing that the lungs were developing. By the 

 ist February their bodies were becoming darker and rougher, 

 and their ventral surfaces becoming yellow, the gills becoming 

 shorter and more of the adult look about them. A tail of one 

 of the larvae that was bitten clean off on the ist January by a 

 larger larva was completely replaced by the ist February. By 

 the 9th February some of the larvae were just miniatures of the 

 adults, with the exception of showing stumps of gills not quite 

 absorbed ; they now eat freely of small worms, and rising 

 frequently to surface of water for air, having quite lost their 

 larval appearance, the tail having narrowed considerably 

 vertically and thickened laterally. By the 14th February five 

 larvie had matured and left the water. 



During their larval stage newts are extremely interesting 

 creatures, and the amount of food they consume is wonderful ; 

 mosquito larvae was their only food, and, although I had a good 

 many sources of supply, it was not always easy to obtain suffi- 

 cient for their requirements. They are absolutely the best 

 consumers of "wrigglers" that I have as yet came across. 



At time of writing this (25th February) seven larvae have 

 matured, but others will be some weeks yet before maturing. 



