126 LAKES AND RIVERS. 



spaces which were cut out for the purpose, being after- 

 wards carefully plugged up. At the end of a year the 

 holes were opened, and the toads were found dead 

 and putrified. Dr. Buckland, from these and other 

 experiments, drew the conclusion that toads cannot 

 survive a year without air, and probably cannot live 

 two years without food. 



Starvation is a cruel death, even to an animal so 

 humbly constituted as a toad, but we may not suppose 

 that its sufferings are in proportion to the time 

 required before its existence comes to an end. 



The custom of rearing and maintaining Newts 

 and other amphibia in aquaria has given opportunities 

 for observing their habits to many persons, who would 

 not, perhaps, have had the patience and persevering 

 watchfulness required to seek them out and study 

 them in their native haunts. These creatures are 

 often called Tritons. The tail is flat at the edges, and 

 there are no parotid glands at the sides of the head. 

 The body is covered with warty excrescences, and the 

 male has during the breeding season a membranous 

 crest along the back, and another along the tail ; but 

 after this season the crests get smaller and almost dis- 

 appear. The newt lives almost entirely in the water, 

 and swims chiefly by means of its long tail, which it 

 moves to and fro like a paddle, for the fore feet are 

 short and small, and have little power comparatively 

 in impelling it rapidly either in the water or on land. 

 There are four British species. The common Warty 

 Newt (Triton cristatus) is about 6 inches in length; 

 it is found in ditches and ponds almost everywhere. 

 It feeds on insects, the spawn of frogs, and even 



