CHAPTER XI. 



THE NEWTS. 



Class, BATRACHIA. Order, Caudate, or Urodela. Family, 

 Salamandrida, Genus, Molge. 



FORMERLY the British newts were commonly known by the classi- 

 cal name Triton, probably from their aquatic habits. The smooth 

 newt was Lissotriton. A still more common and colloquial name 

 is Eft, or Evet, from the Saxon efete. Evet, with the article an, has 

 evidently been corrupted or abbreviated into newt, the v becoming 

 w, as is so often seen to be the case in our language ; thus an 

 evet (pronounced quickly eft), a nevt, a newt. 



Molge, the modern generic name adopted by Boulenger and 

 other herpetologists, is from the Greek word MoXy^s, signifying 

 slow, which may refer to their movements on land, or more appro- 

 priately to their development, as they are three years in arriving 

 at maturity. 



Bell gave at least four species of newt as belonging to Britain ; 

 but since the publication of Bell's popular work, "The British 

 Reptiles," the newts have been receiving more attention from 

 naturalists, and the British species are now reduced to three. 

 The changes in appearance which they undergo at different 

 seasons of the year, their alternate aquatic and terrestrial habits, 

 and their slow development, caused some confusion in identifying 

 the species, and probably a multiplication of them. M. C. Cooke, 

 in his work " Our Reptiles," which was written sixteen years later 

 than Bell's, explained away several of these misconceptions. 



In form the newts are sufficiently like the lizards to have been 

 called "Water Lizards," or " Marsh Lizards," Lacerta palustris of 

 some herpetologists. Many excellent dictionaries even now give 

 the definition u a lizard" to the word eft or newt, but lexi- 

 cographers are not always naturalists, and they copy the older 

 works a good deal. The relationship of newts to the frog is easily 

 recognised in the broad head and rounded muzzle, the prominent 

 eyes, and smooth, naked skin. Though so small, their resem- 



