THE BRITISH AMPHIBIANS. 135 



Every year in September so it is reported the newts of the neigh- 

 bourhood hold a farewell meeting before retiring for hibernation. 

 They then disperse to winter quarters, generally in clay, the 

 youngsters each to a separate hole, those over three years old forming 

 parties of from eight to a dozen to sleep through the winter together 

 rolled up in clumps as large as a cricket ball. The retirement would 

 seem to be due to scarcity of food rather than lowness of tempera- 

 ture, for newts have been frozen, experimentally, in solid blocks of 

 ice and thawed out as lively as ever. They live on insects, worms, 

 tadpoles, and so on, and with a fine sporting instinct never touch 

 their prey unless it is alive and on the move ; unlike toads they do 

 not attack worms in the middle, but seize them by the head and 

 swallow them lengthways, so that the worm's own bristles help it 

 down to die. The Crested Newt ranges from Scotland and southern 

 Sweden into south-western Asia. In south-western Europe it is 

 replaced by the Marbled Newt. 



The Smooth Newt is the commonest of the family in these 

 islands. Its skin is smooth, not warty, and there are two rows of pores 

 on the top of the head, and a few in an indistinct row along the 

 sides. The upper parts are brownish grey, spotted with black, the 

 spots being in lines, those on the head numbering five, the spots 

 extending on to the festooned crest. The under parts are yellow 

 spotted with black, the female having fewer and fainter markings 

 than the male. The lower edge of her tail is orange, that of her mate is 

 red, and his tail has a blue stripe along the side. He is about three 

 and a quarter inches long, she is rather larger, and his hind toes are 

 lobate, that is, fringed with membrane. Unlike the Crested Newt, 

 this species lays its eggs in strings of four or six at a time, and attaches 

 them to the roots of the water-plants instead of their leaves, and, 

 instead of having two black stripes on the back, the tadpoles are 

 dotted with yellow. In development, habits, food, and distribution 

 it resembles the Crested Newt, except that it ranges into Ireland, 

 where, although quite harmless like the others, it is credited with all 

 sorts of misdeeds and evil influences. 



The Webbed Newt is olive brown above and yellow below, the 

 head being streaked and the body dotted with dark brown. The 

 tail is truncate, and ends in a filament, and its under surface is blue 

 in the male and orange in the female. The toes of the male are 

 webbed and blackish. The female rarely exceeds three inches in length, 

 the male being smaller and darker in colour. Another distinctive 

 feature of this species is the flattened back with the two raised lateral 

 lines passing above the eyes and extending all along the body, and 

 another is the low continuous crest which begins rather far back on 

 the neck. Like all the newts it swims with its tail, not with its legs, 

 which it keeps close to the sides, and it sheds its skin frequently, 

 and becomes much duller in hue during its nine months on land. 

 It is confined to Western Europe, and ranges into Scotland, and is 

 the rarest of the three. 



As before we must have a list of the more important of the 

 alternative names arranged alphabetically under the respective 

 genera. 



