370 THE NATURALIST. 



OBSEEVATIONS OK EEPTILES. 



By W. R Tate. 



As I liave kept live Heptiles of various sorts constantly for tlie last two 

 years, and at intervals for some time previously, and have spent many days 

 in catching them, perhaps a few observations of mine on those little-studied 

 creatures may interest some readers of the "Naturalist." 



Crested ISTewt, {Triton ijaliistris.) — I lately had one which I named 

 " IsTeptune," because, I supj)ose from some accident, one of the toes of his 

 right fore-foot was divided into three little fingers, looking like the trident 

 ■of that god. A female once laid four eggs in my tub, but they came to 

 notliing. They were the coloiu' of those of the Cochin China hen, and sank 

 to the bottom of the water. The tip of the tail of this Newt is rather brittle, 

 but not nearly so much so as that of the lizard and blindworm. They some- 

 times bite when first taken, but^annot make one feel. Before " Neptune " 

 died a pair of water beetles, {Hydrous inceus) attacked him and devoured 

 the flesh off his tail. In mnter it loses the lobe of its upper lip. 



Common Toad, {Bufo vid(jaris.) I have at present a nice specimen of the 

 toad, which croaks loudly whenever touched. Another croaking fellow, together 

 with a noisy Natterjack, of my catching, is in the Zoological Gardens. Both 

 croaking toads are very regularly spotted with black. They were caught in 

 the adjoining parishes of Cobham and Esher, in Surrey, and are possibly only 

 varieties. - "When watching an insect which they intend to devour, toads keep 

 twitching their hind toes most comically with excitement. AAHien devoimng a 

 large worm they use their fore-feet as hands to push it into their mouths, and 

 also to pull out moss, &c., which may have got in with the worm. My 

 Toads (I have two young ones besides the adult) are now so tame that they 

 never dribble over me when I touch them. Last September I was bringing 

 one home in a canister with a lizard. After walking about a mile I looked 

 into the tm, and found that the Toad had dribbled over the lizard, which 

 was gasping. Soon after being introduced into his box my large one 

 scraped a hole in the moss with his hind-feet, in Avhich he took up liis 

 abode. I have since put a mud Tortoise in with him, which turned him out 

 and took possession of his hole. What may be called the thumb on each 

 fore-foot of the Toad is covered on the back with very hard raised skin, to 

 protect it from abrasion by its rubbing against the body when walking. 



