176 THE RIVER-SIDE NATURALIST. 



THE NEWTS. 



Of the Newts, we have four British species, all of which 

 are common in our ponds and stagnant waters. 



The COMMON WARTY NEWT or GREAT WATER-NEWT 

 (Triton cristatus), Fig. I, is well distinguished by its dorsal 

 crest, which becomes very prominent on the male in the 

 spring. The female lays its eggs, one at a time, in the 

 following manner : She selects some leaf of a water- 

 plant, sits upon its edge, and folding it by means of her 

 hinder-feet, deposits a single egg in the duplicature of 





THE NEWTS. 



the folded part of the leaf, which is glued securely to- 

 gether, and the egg effectually protected. She then quits 

 the leaf, and after a short time goes through the same 

 process on another leaf, and so on, laying altogether a 

 considerable number of eggs. The food of this newt 

 consists of aquatic insects and small living animals, such 

 as worms and tadpoles, and the like. The colour is 

 a black-brown or yellow-brown on the upper-parts, with 

 dark round spots ; the under-parts bright orange-red, with 

 round black spots ; sides of the tail in the males of a 

 shiny pearl-white. In the breeding season the male puts 

 on the deep indented crest, which extends the whole length 

 of the back ; it is separated from the crest of the tail by 



