FRESH- WATER ANIMALS. 301 



after his first season and the loss by absorption of his tail 

 and dorsal fins, seeks some distant spot for his first hiberna- 

 tion, in a damp cellar, or under half-buried stones, and for the 

 first three years does not return to the neighbourhood of the 

 ponds, not being yet sufficiently strong to resist the attacks 

 to which he would be exposed, and as yet unprepared for 

 breeding. At the end of the period mentioned however 

 he goes back to the water and is provided with new fins for 

 his tail and a new crest for his back, becomes fish-like in his 

 habits, and seeks a mate. At the end of the season again, 

 the fishy ornaments are once more absorbed, and the Newt 

 returns again to land ; this time, however, not seeking dis- 

 tant solitudes, but hibernating in crevices and clay-banks 

 coiled up in company with others of his race, of whom he 

 is no longer afraid. Here they remain until the next 

 breeding season ; the males acquiring crest and fins at the 

 beginning of every aquatic season, and losing them prepara- 

 tory to assuming terrestrial habits at the end. 



The full-grown Triton feeds on live aquatic animals, which 

 it is capable of swallowing entire. Its manner of seizing 

 prey is rapid and efficient, often enabling it to secure large 

 bodies. Water Mollusca not unfrequently fall a prey to 

 its voracious appetite, their shells having been found in 



