INTRODUCTION 



strings of Toad's eggs are when (a difficult proposition !) 

 they are taken from their native element and held sus- 

 pended, the dark chocolate-coloured eggs resembling 

 round beads set in a translucent chain of quicksilver. 

 Quite the reverse holds good with regard to Newts, as 

 they are much more particular in regard to their domestic 

 affairs. Newt's eggs, as a matter of fact, are rarely 

 discovered, except by the enthusiastic pond-dipper, as 

 each egg is separately enveloped, or wrapped, in a leaf 

 which is sealed up until such time as the young tadpole is 

 ready to make good its escape. After hatching, the 

 Frog and Toad tadpoles breathe by means of gills. 

 So also, for that matter, does the tadpole Newt. The 

 former cling for a time to the shapeless mass of jelly-like 

 substance, which thus serves the purpose of a floating 

 raft, but they soon become restless, and wriggle violently 

 until they free themselves from their temporary anchor- 

 age. They have, like most young people, ravenous 

 appetites, and as they eat, so they grow. The head 

 assumes a bull-dog-like appearance, they become more 

 active as the days pass by, and congregate in shallow 

 water in immense numbers so that the warmth of the 

 greatest alchemist that ever v/as— the Sun — shall infuse 

 them with energy and gathering strength. At times, the 

 margin of a pond is a seething mass of these animal- 

 torpedoes, and it is a mercy that all do not come to 

 maturity, A great many fall a prey to other tenants of the 

 pond, and as by this time the adults have left its precincts, 



the youngsters have perforce to shift for themselves. 



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