378 THE VIVARIUM. 
left their tadpole condition, but have not yet arrived at maturity, 
may generally be found some distance from the water’s edge, 
beneath stones, or under logs and the like. They do not, as a 
rule, at any period of their lives, become inhabitants of the water 
again, after having completed their metamorphosis, until they are 
fully grown or nearly so, and able to assist in the reproduction of 
their species. The Common Newt, like other members of its 
genus, has the habit of giving a plaintive cry when handled. 
M. vulgaris has three longitudinal grooves on its head, which 
is longer than broad; during the breeding season labial lobes, 
those of the females being more developed than those of the males ; 
a rounded body, which in the spring and summer is adorned 
with a crest, that of the males being well raised and festooned, 
and running from behind the eyes without interruption to the 
end of the tail, where it ends in a point, that of the females being 
much lower and straight edged ; in the case of the breeding males, 
lobated toes ; a tail rather longer than the head and body, and 
provided during the breeding period with a lower crest, that of the 
male being festooned ; the skin quite smooth or nearly so; and 
two rows of pores on the head. 
The colouring and marking of JZ. vulgaris are perhaps more 
variable than those of any other species of Newt. I have just 
been looking closely at some forty of these Newts swimming about 
in a large glass vessel full of clear water, and I could not discover 
any two of the Batrachians marked and coloured quite alike. The 
following is the description of this Newt, as given by Mr. 
Boulenger in his catalogue, already often referred to: ‘‘ Upper 
parts brown or olive, with darker spots; these are large and 
rounded in the male, small, and sometimes confluent into a lateral 
band in the female and young; head with five longitudinal dark 
streaks, most distinct in the male; lower surfaces yellowish with 
a median orange or reddish zone, and large round black spots in 
the male, or small black dots in the female, the latter frequently 
confluent into a line along each side of the belly ; lower edge of 
the tail uniform orange in the female, red bordered above with 
blue interrupted by vertical black spots in the male.” 
This Batrachian is often called, especially by the British 
peasants, an ‘‘ Eft,’ or ‘‘Evet,’? which comes from the Anglo- 
