Chap. XII.] 



AMPHIBIANS. 



23 



season ; and at this season in the male Triton palmipes 

 the hind-feet are provided with a swimming web, which is 

 almost comiiletely absorbed during the winter; so that 

 their feet then resemble those of the female.'* This struct- 



FiG. 31.— Triton cristatiis (half natural eize, from Bell's 'British Eeptiles'). 

 Upper figure, male during the breeding-season ; lower figure, female. 



ure no doubt aids the male in his eager search and pursuit 

 of the female. With our common newts {Triton lyunc- 

 tatus and cristatus) a deep, much indented crest is devel- 

 oped along the back and tail of the male during the breed- 

 ing-season, being absorbed during the winter. It is not 

 furnished, as Mr. St. George Mivart informs me, with 

 muscles, and therefore cannot be used for locomotion. 

 As during the season of courtship it becomes edged with 

 bright colors, it serves, there can hardly be a doubt, as a 

 masculine ornament. In many species the body presents 

 strongly-contrasted though lurid tints ; and these become 

 more vivid during the breeding-season. The male, for 

 instance, of our common little newt {Triton x>unctatus) is 

 " brownish gray above, passing into yellow beneath, which 



33 Bell, "History of British Reptiles," 2d edit. 1849, pp. 156-159. 



