INTRODUCTION 
tentionally, overlooked, and all the bad points are brought 
into play. Newts, or Wet Efts, as they are frequently 
called, are often accused (and of course wrongly) of being 
poisonous, and of stinging. With the welcome dawn of 
a new era in Nature Study we may reasonably expect to 
find these misleading statements gradually subsiding, 
but it is difficult to stamp them out when they have 
become so firmly rooted, and for so long a time. 
Personal observation and experience are the prime tests. 
That fear of Newts has existed for more years than 
one cares to recount is proved by Shakespeare’s passage 
in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” thus :— 
** Newts and Blind worms do no wrong, 
Come not near our fairy Queen.” 
They certainly would not do any wrong because they 
cannot! The Fairy Queen seems doomed to close 
association with these ‘‘ dreadful creatures,” for Edmund 
Spenser has more than a sly dig at them when he says : 
“‘ These marishes and myrie bogs 
In which the fearfull Ewftes do build their bowres.”’ 
Needless to add, Newts need not be regarded as “‘ fear- 
full,” and they do not build ‘‘ bowres.”’ Spencer’s use 
of the word “‘ Ewftes ” serves, however, a useful purpose 
as it shows how our modern word ‘“‘ Newt ’”’ has become 
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