British Amphibians : Newts 



or marshy places. It is said that amphibians as a rule 

 refuse to eat <c still life," or, in other words, decline any 

 meal that has not the spark of life within it. Be that 

 as it may, Newts are fond of catching their prey by the 

 head, and without any formal ceremony swallowing 

 their victims whole. 



In some districts Newts are supposed to convene 

 meetings in late autumn, and before they finally settle 

 in their winter quarters for hibernating purposes. From 

 such conventions the younger members individually 

 retire to some hole in a clayey bank, while those of 

 mature age form clubs of ten or twenty, and roll them- 

 selves up into a living mass, and then go to sleep. This 

 is undoubtedly superstition run riot, yet it savours 

 somewhat of the procedure of the Bat, and may have 

 originated from the same. 



While speaking of hibernation, it is rather curious 

 to note that Newts can stand quite an abnormally low 

 temperature. Generally speaking, animals that can do 

 so do not hibernate. Doubtless the absence of insect and 

 other life on which Newts feed compels them to retire 

 for a season, just in the same way as the summer 

 Bats take on a dormant state until the atmosphere is 

 again loaded with Diptera and Lepidoptera for their 

 sustenance. 



Newts live long, bar accidents, even in captivity. 

 How long they do live no one can say ; of such, no 

 record has been written, although one or two observers 

 mention twenty, thirty, or forty years. 



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