BRITISH REPTILES 
on by its relative, the great water-newt, and by fish. 
This newt varies much in colour ; the general tone is 
brown-grey above, bright orange below, marked all 
over with dark spots, and the crest is very often tipped 
with red. 
There have been two more kinds of newts figured 
and described in works on reptiles. Whether they 
are species, or varieties, is of little consequence. I 
have seen so many strange changes, influenced by 
season and locality, in the creatures I have briefly, 
and I trust plainly, described from the life. But after 
long study, I should still hesitate before I gave my 
opinion from any scientific point of view. I could 
have given the dry technical details of all those I have 
written about, but have not done so, lest my usually 
indulgent readers should skip the article ; what I 
have written, however, has been from personal know- 
ledge of facts that are beyond dispute. 
In conclusion, I must say a few words about the 
real use of the creatures. The stronghold of reptile 
life in the country, as in other lands, has been the 
swamps and wastes. The fens and marshes have re- 
cently almost passed away ; fertile corn-fields having 
taken the place of sedges and reeds. In the hot, reek- 
ing fen and marsh-land summers of my younger days, 
snakes and vipers swarmed. When the frogs spawned, 
