88 THE COMMON VIPER OR ADDER 



hinder feet being provided with five toes. The male animal is dis- 

 tinguished by a crest or fleshy ridge borne on the back, and is displayed 

 to greatest advantage when in the water. In habits the common or 

 lesser newt is semi-aquatic, frequenting meadows and other damp 

 places in summer, and lives upon small worms, slugs, woodlice, 

 insects and their larvae. It is about 3 in. in length; feeds in 

 water on aquatic insects, larvae, etc. In winter the common newt 

 is torpid, usually on land. 



The GREAT WATER-NEWT (Triton cristatus), Fig. 57, measures 

 about 6 in. in length when fully grown. It is coloured dark 

 brown on the upper parts, the sides being of a whitish colour, wliilst 

 the belly is of an orange colour spotted with black. It is common 

 in our fresh-water pools and ponds, the crest in the male animal 

 being very conspicuous. 



The great water-newt feeds upon water insects and larvae, also 

 tadpoles, and on land is similar in its habits to the lesser newt. 

 In winter it is torpid. Many people have a great horror of newts, 

 though they are perfectly harmless. The popular superstition is 

 that a bite of an " eft " causes the loss of the limb bitten, and that 

 cows or other animals drinking from a pond and swallowing an eft 

 are sure to come to an untimely end. 



DANGEROUS 



The COMMON VIPER or ADDER (Pelias berus), Fig. 58, belongs to 

 the order Ophidia of the class Reptilia, and to the section Viperina, 



FIG. 58. THE COMMON VIPER OR ADDER. 



