152 OUR REPTILES. 



worms, and in their turn, as some have observed, 

 themselves become food for the great warty newt. 



Though perfectly harmless, these poor creatures, 

 devoid of any means of defence or offence, are often 

 the subject of persecution in rural districts. School- 

 boys, especially, consider them fair game for torture, 

 and adults view its infliction with complacency, or 

 at least without protestation, because not a few still 

 entertain superstitious or fabulous notions either of 

 their poisonous properties, or their secret association 

 with the " black art." In towns, since aquaria, 

 vivaria, and such " parlour menageries," have be- 

 come fashionable, newts and lizards have been better 

 known and appreciated, and have even been taken 

 under the protection of the fair sex. In common 

 with the warty newt, this species is slow in arriving 

 at maturity, and there is every reason to believe 

 that the remarks made under that species as to 

 development, &c, will also apply to the present. 

 In the first edition of Bell's " British Keptiles " 

 considerable confusion was made of the smooth 

 newts, on account of the different appearances pre- 

 sented by them at different periods of their career. 

 In the second edition most of the errors were cor- 

 rected, but one was still maintained, to which Dr. 

 Gray has referred in the following terms : — " Mr. 

 Bell, believing that the form of the upper lip 

 afforded a good character for the distinction of 



