AMPHIBIANS. 221 



is continuous, instead of a succession of short notes. 

 Length, 2f inches; hind-leg, i\ inches. The male is 

 smaller. 



GREAT WARTY NEWT. Provincial name, Askel. This 

 Molge cristata. is the largest of our three British 



Newts, and fairly common in Shrop- 

 shire. As all the three species are very similar in their 

 nature and habits it will only be necessary to describe 

 these in detail once. As compared with the Frog or 

 Toad, it will be seen that the body of the Newt is elon- 

 gated ; the limbs short and weak ; the tail long and 

 strong. In the water the Newt propels itself entirely 

 by means of the tail, which is flattened vertically so as 

 to act as a fin, the motion being produced by waving it 

 rapidly to the right and left. When swimming the legs 

 are laid back and pressed close to the body. On land 

 the Newt uses the legs for progression, but they are only 

 just strong enough to bear its weight ; leaping is out of 

 the question, and the pace is little better than a crawl. 

 The tongue is less free and flexible than in the Toad 

 or Frog, and consequently plays a much less important 

 part in capturing prey. The Newt generally seizes its 

 food by darting forward and snapping it up with its jaws. 

 Even in its tadpole stage it is much more carnivorous 

 than the Frog, feeding principally on Water-fleas and 

 tiny insects at first, and, as it grows larger, attacking 

 animals of all kinds, including the tadpoles of other 

 Amphibians, or even of its own kind ; if unable to eat 

 them, it nibbles bits out of their tails. The tadpoles 

 of Newts, when they hatch out of the egg, have the 

 external gills in a more advanced state of development 

 than those of Frogs at the same stage, and the gills are 



