COMMON WARTY-NEWT. 137 



tations. In consonance with this latter change, the hold- 

 ers, which had been the only previous means of station, 

 being now unnecessary, have become almost entirely ab- 

 sorbed. At figure 8, the farther developement of the an- 

 terior feet, which have acquired four toes, and the rudi- 

 mentary existence of the posterior pair, have considerably 

 approximated the little animal to its permanent condition ; 

 but the branchise have acquired a still more extensive 

 developement, and the leaflets of which they are composed 

 are much more distinct. In figure 9, which is of the 

 natural size, we see the animal much changed. The body 

 is now bulky, the colours are nearly those of the perfect 

 condition, and the transparency of the body, which has 

 previously been such as to afford the most agreeable oppor- 

 tunity to examine the internal structure, and to watch the 

 functions which were going on, has given place to the 

 opacity of the adult animal. The branchise, however, still 

 remain, and have assumed a firmer consistence, a more 

 opaque appearance, and a deeper colour. From this 

 period the branchiae become gradually absorbed, and the 

 lungs are in the same proportion developed, until at length, 

 towards the close of autumn, the young animal has acquired 

 its perfect condition, and has quitted its aquatic for an 

 atmospheric mode of respiration. In fact, like the Tad- 

 pole of the Frog, the metamorphosis of which we have 

 already traced, it has passed from the state of a fish to 

 that of a reptile.* 



* In the perennibranchiate forms of the Amphibia, such as the Siren, the 

 Proteus, and others, the developement of the sanguiferous and respiratory 

 systems is arrested at that point of their growth which we have just been ob- 

 serving in the present animal, at figure 9, at the point where the lungs have 

 just begun to assume their functions, and before the branchiae have undergone 

 any diminution in their volume. Here they permanently remain ; and exhibit 

 the extraordinary phenomenon of co-existent pulmonary and branchial re- 

 spiration. 



