586 



SALAMANDER. 



on the upper part, and orange, or brownish -orange, 

 on the under, the whole marked over with round 

 black spots, and the head streaked with black. The 

 crest on the dorsal line of the male of this species 

 has a curious outline, as if it were formed into a 

 number of lobes. The toes are flattened, and slightly 

 marginated, but they are not in the least webbed. 



THE WEB-FOOTED SALAMANDER (T. palmata) is 

 brown on the upper part, with lines of black and 

 brown on the top of the head ; the flanks are light 

 brown, with spots of black ; and the under parts are 

 also light brown, but .without any spots ; the toes are 

 broad, and united by membranes ; the male has 

 three small crests on the back. 



These are the principal species or varieties men- 

 tioned by those who treat of the reptiles of continen- 

 tal Europe ; but it is not known what differences of 

 habit accompany the differences of colour or of crest. 

 Indeed, the animals are invisible for so long a portion 

 of the year, and they appear to be so much affected by 

 differences of climate and locality, that no very defi- 

 nite conclusion respecting them can be arrived at, 

 farther than that those which have the toes widened 

 or webbed appear to be more exclusively aquatic than 

 those which have them simple. In North America, 

 which is a much more marshy country than Europe, 

 there are many more species of these animals, but 

 nothing is known concerning them that could be in 

 the least degree interesting to the general reader. 



None of the species or varieties hitherto men- 

 tioned are known to be inhabitants of the British 

 islands. There are, however, two reptiles found in 

 Britain which have been called tritons, and which 

 seem to belong to the water salamanders rather than 

 to any other genus or family. These are the water 

 efts, or water newts, of which there are two species, 

 the one larger than the other, and not so habitually 

 aquatic, though never found in places so dry as those 

 in which the land eft is sometimes met with. Their 

 structure and mode of production are very similar to 

 those of the water salamanders. Their bodies are elon- 

 gated, and their long tails are compressed laterally, 

 so that they work as swimming paddles in the same 

 manner as those of the salamanders. Like the aquatic 

 species of these, they are oviparous, and their eggs 

 are disposed in a similar manner. The young are 

 tadpoles, breathing with gills in their early state ; 

 and when they come to maturity the gills are ab- 

 sorbed, and the lungs come into action. They are 

 not found in clear or running waters, or in the sea, 

 but in marshes and shallow pools which are matted 

 with aquatic plants. The j'oung have claspers, by 

 means of which they can adhere to these plants ; but 

 the claspers, as well as the gills, belong only to the 

 early stage of their life, and they disappear about the 

 same time. They are not very numerous, and they 

 are but rarely seen in proportion to the numbers in 

 which they really exist. They are perfectly harm- 

 less creatures, but the country people have the same 

 aversion to them as to the land newt, and kill them 

 wherever they are found. The draining of the ponds 

 and marshes, and the general cleaning out of the 

 ditches and water-courses, which form part of an 

 improved system of agriculture, have tended much 

 to diminish the numbers of aquatic reptiles. Both 

 the British species have the feet formed in the same 

 manner as those of the land newt, that is, with four 

 toes on each of the fore feet, and five on the hind, 

 \vithout either webs or claws. As is the case with 



the salamanders of the continent, both of these are 

 described as lizards in many of the books, but they 

 are true Batrachm. 



THE WARTY EFT (T. paluxirii) is the least aquatic 

 of the two, not being met with out of the aquatic 

 herbage, and often lurking in that where the water 

 has dried up. It grows to the length of six or seven 

 inches, and is of a brownish colour above, and orange, 

 with black spots, below. The skin is roughened by 

 small warts or tubercles, like that of many of the 

 water salamanders ; and some have alleged that 

 these give out an acrid liquor, but there does not 

 appear to be any truth in the statement. The head 

 is flattened, and the muzzle blunt, and finely varie- 

 gated with yellowish white ; the middle of the belly 

 is without any tubercles ; the tail is much com- 

 pressed, and rather deep ; and the ridge of the back 

 and tail are furnished with a crest, which is notched 

 on the back. It is, taken in whole, rather a hand- 

 some little animal, notwithstanding the dislike in 

 which it is held. 



THE WATER EFT (T. aquations) is more abundant 

 and more generally distributed. It is more aquatic, 

 also, than the warty one, and often seen in clear 

 water, though in ponds and ditches, and not in run- 

 ning streams. It is a smaller animal than the other, 

 being seldom, if ever, met with larger than four 

 inches. Its skin is nearly, or altogether, smooth, 

 greenish-brown above, and orange below, with black- 

 ish streaks on the former, and spots of the same 

 colour on the latter. The head is flattened, and 

 marked by two lines of black dots, but it has none of 

 those beautiful mottlings with yellow which are on 

 the muzzles of the warty one. The tail is also less 

 deep in the section, and tapers to a more slender 

 point. This animal is viewed with even more sus- 

 picion than the warty one ; for it is alleged that both 

 human beings and domestic animals are liable to 

 swallow the spawn along with the water which they 

 drink ; and then this terrible tormenter is seen to 

 come to maturity in their stomachs. Now, that any 

 vertebrated animal can live in the stomach of another 

 is an absurdity ; and that a batrachian reptile should 

 do so is most palpably absurd. To say nothing of 

 the suffocation from want of air, no reptile of this 

 kind can bear a degree of heat equal to that of the 

 interior of the human body in a state of ordinary 

 health. We have heard of many cases, however, 

 in which this was most firmly believed ; and we have 

 actually seen persons whom nothing would persuade 

 that they had not. a water eft in the stomach which 

 tormented them, and rose in the throat when the 

 stomach was empty. Such persons were, we believe, 

 troubled with indigestion, a malady which puts more 

 crotchets into people's heads, and is, on that account, 

 more incurable, than almost any other that can be 

 named. The plague of the eft is, we should suppose, 

 not so common now as it once was ; but we remem- 

 ber the time when, in a rural and remote part of the 

 country, there were some persons who wandered 

 about and picked up a tolerable living, and no small 

 degree of rustic fame, by quacking the afflicted for 

 this and other imaginary diseases. We have actu- 

 ally seen a roasted shrew prescribed and taken, in 

 order to make the newt or eft quit its abode in the 

 stomach ; but we never heard of the expelled in- 

 truder making its exit bodily, though the patient 

 might probably be cured, as imagination is often the 

 best and the only cure for imaginary diseases. This 



