176 ANIMAL LIFE OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



The adults, if they did not leave the water immediately after 

 the conclusion of family affairs, seek dry land in the autumn, and 

 assemble in numbers in some comfortable damp hole, where 

 they twist and intertwine into a ball, apparently to prevent loss 

 of moisture. In this way they pass the winter in a more or 

 less torpid condition. 



The skin is shed much after the manner of the Snake, 

 separation beginning at the lips, and by the help of the hands 

 and bodily wrigglings worked off the tail. These sloughs may 

 be found floating entire in the water looking like Newt-ghosts ; 

 but on land they may be got rid of piecemeal, the old skin 

 being sometimes swallowed as in the case of the Toad. 



The Crested Newt is widely distributed over England, but is 

 less plentiful in the west : in Devon it is a scarce species and 

 locally restricted, and in Cornwall it does not occur. Much 

 the same applies to Scotland, where it is found as far north as 

 Perthshire, but not at all in the west. It is absent entirely from 

 Ireland ; but generally distributed on the Continent. 



Smooth Newt (Molge vulgaris, Linn.). 



The Smooth Newt, Common Newt, Spotted Newt, Eft or Evat 

 is the best known of the trio, but is most plentiful in the eastern 

 half of the Kingdom. It is very much smaller than the Crested 

 Newt, its maximum length being four inches. It varies in colour, 

 but the prevailing tint is olive brown with darker spots over the 

 upper side, and dark streaks on the head. The underside is 

 orange or vermilion with round black spots, the colours be- 

 coming more intense in the breeding season ; the throat white 

 or yellow, mostly dotted with black. The underside of the 

 female is, as a rule, much paler than that of the male, and often 

 unspotted. At the mating period the male develops a con- 

 tinuous crest, running from the top of the head to the end of 

 the tail, and the lower edge of the tail has a spotted pale blue 



