COMMON WATER-NEWT. 147 



a longer time to be acted on by heat than the drier 

 creatures. Its usual length is about seven or eight inches, 

 but it is sometimes much longer. The salamander feeds 

 on insects, and can live in water, often frequenting stagnant 

 pools. It has been accounted poisonous, but it is quite 

 incapable of inflicting any wound ; it appears from ex- 

 periment, that it has poisoned the grey lizard, when bitten 

 by it, probably from the lizard's having swallowed, in the 

 bite, a large quantity of the fluid which oozes from the 

 body of the salamander. It is a viviparous animal, the 

 eggs being hatched internally, and the young produced 

 alive. The number of young at one birth sometimes 

 amounts to thirty or forty. 



THE COMMON WATER-NEWT 



Is a British species, frequently found in stagnant waters ; 

 it is about three inches and a half, or at most four, in 

 length. The general colour of the male is olive brown, 

 beautifully marked with round, distinct, black spots : the 

 abdomen is orange-coloured, less distinctly marked. The 

 female is much less beautiful than the male, being of a 

 pale yellowish-brown, less distinctly spotted. The male 

 is also distinguished by a crest, which runs along its back, 

 and which is so thin, as fo form an excellent subject for 

 observing, by the help of the microscope, the circulation 

 of the blood. The water-newt breeds early in the spring, 

 and deposits her spawn in small strings, or clusters. The 

 larvae are soon hatched, and for a long time are furnished 

 with three branched fins on each side the head ; which, 

 together with the shortness of its feet, give it the ap- 

 pearance of a small fish. These fins assist the animal in 

 respiration, and disappear as it grows older. The water- 

 newts frequently cast their skins, and possess, in a high 

 degree, the power of reproducing parts that have been cut 

 off, and of retaining life in unfavorable circumstances. 

 They are, however, easily killed by salt, whether applied 

 wet or dry. 



