606 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



colour is more usually blackish or olive-brown with darker circular spots above, and yellow or 

 orange-red with black spots or marbling beneath, while the sides are speckled white. In the 

 breeding-season the colours are more especially brilliant, and it is at this time that the male 

 develops the serrated crest along the middle of its back, from which it takes its title. 



The eggs, or spawn, of the newt are deposited in a different fashion to those of the frog 

 and toad. In place of being aggregated together in an irregular or ribbon-like mass, each 

 is deposited separately and attached to the leaves of water-plants. By the dexterous use 

 of its feet, the female newt twists or folds the leaf, or a portion of it, around the egg, its 

 viscid envelope allowing it to readily adhere, and it is thus effectually concealed or protected 

 from injury. When about a quarter of an inch long, the tadpole escapes from the egg. At 

 this early stage the gills are quite simple and the front limbs represented by mere knobs. 

 Immediately in front of the gills are two fleshy lobes, by means of which the tadpole can 

 temporarily adhere to the surfaces of water-plants. Within a fortnight the little animal has 

 grown to double the size. The gills are now elegantly branched and the fore limbs well 

 developed. The latter are, however, only bifurcated at their extremities, and it is some little 

 time later that four distinct toes are possessed by each fore limb and that the hind limbs 

 make their appearance. The gills, which have at this stage reached their most complex state 



of development, now begin to diminish in 

 size, and are gradually absorbed, the lungs 

 in the meantime acquiring their full 

 functional proportions. The newt, having 

 now passed from the fish-like to a reptilian 

 stage, is unable to live entirely beneath 

 the water, and is obliged to come up to 

 the surface at intervals to breathe, or is 

 adapted for living entirely upon land. 

 Newts in their fully matured state, except 



ffTJ I during the breeding-season, pass much of 



'~'.-4lfc ^P^^l I their time on land, and wander to con- 



siderable distances from the water. They 

 at all times, however, exhibit a preference 

 for moist situations, such as a shady wood 

 or damp cellar. 



Like the toad and blind-worm, the 

 feeble, inoffensive newt has from the earliest 

 time to the present day been the victim of the most unmerited dread and persecution among 

 the uneducated. In some country districts it is not only accredited with the property of 

 biting venomously, but of spitting fire into the bitten wound. A property that is actually 

 possessed by these creatures is that of reproducing lost parts. The Geckos and other lizards, 

 as already recorded, are in the habit of reproducing their mutilated tails. The newt, however, 

 beats that record to the extent of reproducing lost legs, and, it has been affirmed, eyes also. 



A second species of British newt, of somewhat smaller size and even more common 

 than the crested one, is the COMMON or SMOOTH NEWT. It scarcely exceeds 3 inches in length, 

 and is distinguished by its smooth skin and relatively less conspicuous crest. In habits it is 

 less addicted to a prolonged aquatic residence than the crested form, and wanders to more 

 considerable distances from water. One of the largest and handsomest representatives of the 

 family is the MARBLED NEWT of Southern France and the Spanish Peninsula, which attains 

 a length of 8 or 9 inches. The upper-parts of the male at the breeding-season are bright 

 bronze-green with irregular black markings; its crest is ornamented with black and white 

 vertical bars, and a silvery white band is developed along the sides of the tail. The crestless 

 female has a distinctive orange streak running down the centre of the back. 



The TRUE SALAMANDERS have no British representative, though the common or spotted species 



Photo by Jamtl B. Crr, Elf. 



SMOOTH NEWT 



this species often travels long distances from vvater t taking up its residence 

 in damp cellar* and vaults 



