No. 2.] THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEWT. 277 



The eggs are laid singly as a rule, but occasionally two, and 

 rarely three, may be deposited successively in the same nest. 

 The eggs are laid between folds of a leaf of AnacJiaris or some 

 similar water plant, or in a bunch of Fontinalis leaflets. (Fig. 

 I, Plate XV). I have found eggs in the ponds wrapped in the 

 same elaborate fashion as those laid in my aquaria. The eggs 

 in the ponds are laid upon water plants in the localities usually 

 frequented by the newts, and may sometimes be obtained in 

 considerable abundance. The selection of a suitable spot for 

 the laying of an egg often gives the female some little concern,, 

 since she is rather fastidious in this particular, and will wander 

 from plant to plant until a thoroughly satisfactory place is 

 found. She then bestrides the chosen spray of water plant, 

 and gathers in with her hind legs the surrounding shoots, 

 pressing them close around her cloaca. She next turns on her 

 side or occasionally on her back, and, with forelimbs out- 

 stretched and rigid, with hind-limbs and twigs completely 

 hiding her cloaca, usually remains perfectly motionless for 

 about six to eight minutes. At the end of this time she slowly 

 leaves the "nest," which now holds an t.^^ well protected by a 

 tangle of shoots glued together by the gelatinous secretion 

 poured out of the cloaca. 



I have observed a female begin to lay an Q,^g five minutes 

 after laying the preceding one, but this is the shortest interval 

 that has come under my notice ; usually the time elapsing be- 

 tween the deposition of two eggs is considerably longer than 

 this. The largest number of eggs that I have seen laid by one 

 individual in the course of twenty-four hours was seventeen. 



The ripe ovaries of adult females consist of two paired sacs 

 applied more or less closely to the dorsal wall and extending 

 nearly the whole length of the body cavity. In an individual 

 measuring about 9. i centimeters from tip to tip, the ovaries, 

 when in position, are about 1.7 centimeters long, but they are 

 flexed considerably upon themselves so that, when straightened, 

 they are fully twice that length. These sacs are composed of 

 two folds of epithelium, between which lie the eggs ; Schultze 

 ('87) has appropriately called the outer of these layers the 

 " Peritonealepithel," and the inner the " Innenepithel." 



