172 SHAKSPEARE'S WALL NEWT. 



orange beneath. The smaller species (Lissotriton punctatus) is 

 more faintly coloured, and hardly more than half the length of 

 the preceding. In both species alike the males are adorned 

 during the breeding season with a membraneous fin-like crest, 

 which runs along the back and tail, and greatly adds to the 

 beauty of their appearance. It appears from the interesting 

 observations of Mr. Higginbottom, communicated to the Royal 

 Society, that these little creatures are by no means so entirely 

 aquatic in their habits as is commonly supposed. The larger 

 species is undoubtedly the more strictly aquatic of the two, the 

 smaller one, the " Wall Newt " of Shakspeare, having more of 

 a roving disposition, and being particularly fond of the damp 

 moss-grown walls of old buildings. Both species, however, pass 

 a great part of their time on the land, and remain permanently 

 in the water only during the period in which they are engaged 

 in the great business of propagating their kind. If one may 

 judge from the crowds which used to gather around the windows 

 of the Aquarium dealers in which these little fellows were ex- 

 .posed to view, they have hitherto been but slightly known to 

 our town-dwellers, notwithstanding their abundant distribution 

 throughout the country. In Ireland only one species appears 

 to be generally distributed, and according to Mr. Patterson of 

 Belfast, it is well known in that part of the country as the 

 " man-keeper," the ignorant part of the population regarding it 

 with great horror, from the notion that it never [fails to jump 

 down the throat of any body that it finds asleep. 



The true Salamanders are strictly terrestrial in their habits, 

 and differ from the Newts in having a rounded instead of a 

 flattened tail. The body of the Salamander is covered with 

 warty glands, which secrete an acrid, milky fluid, the abundance 

 and the poisonous properties of which have given rise to some 

 of the most marvellous stories that the mind of man ever 

 imagined. 



That the fluid secreted by the Salamander is really poisonous 

 to small animals appears certain from the experiment of Lau- 

 renti, who provoked two lizards to bite one of these animals, in 

 order to ascertain the effects of the supposed poisonous secretion. 

 The Salamander at first attempted to escape, but being still 

 persecuted by the lizards, it ejected some of the fluid into their 

 mouths. One of the lizards died instantly ; the other fell into 



