134 THE BRITISH AMPHIBIANS. 



Triton. Plates xxxii, and xxxiii. CAUDATA. 



86. cristatus, CRESTED NEWT. Hind toes free ; crest high and 



serrated, highest in middle ; skin warty. 



87. vulgatis, SMOOTH NEWT. PJind toes lobate or free; crest high 



and festooned, highest in front ; skin smooth. 



88. palmatus, WEBBED NEWT. Hind toes webbed ; crest low and 



straight, highest behind ; tail ending in a filament. 



Newts have four fingers and five toes, and eyes with movable lids. 

 They have teeth on the palate as well as in the jaws, the right and 

 left series of palatal teeth meeting, or nearly meeting, at an angle, 

 instead of being arranged in two sigmoid curves ; and the tail 

 is flat and not round, as in the salamanders to which they are 

 closely allied. 



The Crested Newt has a warty skin with pores on the head and 

 along the sides. A fold of the skin passes under the throat like a 

 collar t The tail is very flat, with sharp edges above and below. In 

 the breeding season the male has a high, curved crest, with serrated 

 edge along the back, and another along the top of the tail, the tail 

 being edged with violet and streaked with silver. The upper parts 

 are. brown spotted with blackish, there being white spots on the 

 sides ; the colour of the under parts is deep yellow spotted with 

 black. The male is between five and six inches in length ; the female is 

 rather larger s and has an orange stripe along the bottom of the tail. 

 The iris is golden yellow, and the toes are yellow, with black rings. 

 The eggs are laid in the water, chiefly in May and June, or slightly 

 earlier or later; they are protected from injury by being placed 

 singly in a sort of sheath formed by folding together the leaves of 

 grasses and other plants, a favourite one being Veronica anagallis. 

 In shape they are spherical, with a white yolk and a firm capsule 

 covered with adhesive matter, by which they are fastened to the leaf. 

 As they swell they open the fold which protects them ; in about a 

 fortnight they are fully exposed to the water, and in another week 

 the black-striped, yellowish-green tadpole emerges. It has a white 

 edge to its tail, and three pairs of external feathery gills, and on its 

 upper jaw are a couple of pairs of adhesive protuberances, by which it 

 clings for support until it becomes strong enough to trust entirely to 

 its swimming powers. It feeds freely on anything small, and soon 

 begins to develop, but, unlike the frogs and toads, it grows its fore 

 legs first, and not until it is three months old do its hind legs appear. 

 As soon as both pairs are in working order the gills begin to shrink, 

 and when the gills are closed the young newt comes ashore, half a 

 year or more after leaving the egg ; but not until three years have 

 passed is a return made to the water, where the male first assumes 

 his nuptial adornments, the full stature being reached at the con- 

 clusion of the fourth year. The Crested Newt takes to the water 

 annually for about three months, and when it returns to the land, after 

 the careful bestowal of the eggs, the handsome crest of the male is 

 diminished to its normal size, and is without the bright colouration. 



