TAILED BATRACHIANS 251 



frequently form, in the case of the latter, a continuous 

 streak on each side. The throat is white or yellow, usually 

 spotted with black. The lower edge of the tail is yellow 

 or orange, and immaculate in the female, red, bordered 

 above with blue, and barred with black, in the male. 



The Common Newt has a very wide distribution ; it 

 is fairly abundant over the greater part of England, the 

 South of Scotland, and Ireland, where it is the only species 

 known ; it is entirely absent from Wales. With the excep- 

 tion of the South of France, Spain, and Portugal, it is 

 found locally over the greater part of Europe and temperate 

 Asia. 



In the north the breeding season begins late in March, 

 towards the end of February in the south. 



Under captive conditions this newt does not thrive, as 

 it leaves the water as soon as the breeding operations are 

 over, when it refuses all food, becomes very soon emaciated, 

 and dies of starvation after only a few months. 



The Crested Newt, M. cristafa, which has, in the 

 British Isles, very much the same distribution as the 

 Common Newt, but is absent from Ireland, has, in the 

 case of the male, a very high and deeply toothed dorsal 

 crest, which, in the female, is replaced by a longitudinal 

 groove. The limbs are moderately long, with the fingers 

 and toes free. The tail is as long as, or a little shorter than, 

 the head and body ; during the breeding season it is 

 strongly compressed, with an upper and a lower crest, the 

 upper of which, in the male, is sometimes denticulated like 

 the one on the back. The skin is more or less strongly tuber- 

 culate, both above and beneath. The coloration is brown, 

 blackish, or olive above, with usually distinct black spots ; 

 a yellowish vertebral line is often present in the female ; 



