338 Miscellaneous. 
During this time the male, remaining at her side, leans and rubs 
himself gently against her; then, all at once, he himself turns over 
towards the ceiling of the nest, his tail waves with a regular motion, 
and finally a tremor accompanied by a slight forward movement 
agitates his whole body. ‘This is recognizable as the genital 
spasm. 
On the conclusion of the spawning, the female abandons the nest 
while the male remains as the assiduous guardian of it. He keeps 
his pectoral fins and tail continually in motion to ensure the con- 
stant renewal of the water. He furiously pursues the other fish 
which pass too near him; if one of them, even much larger than 
himself, happens to penetrate into his nest, he bites and worries it 
until it takes to flight. 
Blennius Montagui is extremely careful as to the cleanliness of 
his abode ; he carries away to a distance all foreign bodies which 
enter it, driven by the currents. Nothing is so curious as to see 
him seize with his mouth large fragments of shells, and carry them 
to the furthest possible distance from his nest. It is impossible to 
succeed in tiring out his patience ; he casts outside his dwelling all 
foreign bodies introduced by the observer. 
The females spawn several times during the same season, and the 
same male fertilizes the ova of several different females. The male 
guards his progeny only so long as the incubation of the ova lasts ; 
the embryos on hatching are left to themselves and live in the open 
water.— Comptes Rendus, t. cxvii. no. 5 (July 31, 1893), pp. 289- 
291. 
A Synopsis of the European Newts. 
By Dr. J. von Brepriaea, of Nice. 
Since the publication of my detailed treatise upon the Urodele 
Amphibia of Europe will still take some time, I venture to bring 
forward at once a systematic arrangement of our species of Molge. 
In so doing it is my intention to lay stress chiefly upon permanent 
differences, and I shall endeavour to disregard secondary sexual 
characters. 
Several years ago Leydig and later Boulenger alluded to constant 
specific characters in the case of certain Urodela. Nevertheless 
batrachologists do not yet seem to have succeeded in discovering in 
the case of all our species of newts characters which are at all times 
recognizable and common to both sexes, since in all analytical tables 
we are invariably confronted with the time-honoured enumeration 
of secondary sexual characters, as well as of sexual peculiarities 
which are subject to periodical changes. Moreover, owing to the 
fact that features belonging to the last-mentioned category occur 
more especially in the male sex, we acquire in the majority of cases 
no conception of the specific type, but rather obtain a complex of 
characters which merely serves tor the definite determination of the 
male individuals. The characteristics upon which an empirical 
distinction of the females was based had, as is well known, in many 
cases to be sought in the coloration, size, and shape of the entire 
