i;8 ANIMAL LIFE OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



the back. The crest, instead of being high in front and having 

 an undulating edge, rises gradually from the head, is of less 

 height and has an entire margin. The tail appears as though 

 the tip had been cut off and the attempt to renew it had got , 

 only as far as the development of a short thread from the 

 centre of the cut portion. But what gives the species its name 

 is a black web which connects the toes. The tail develops a 

 fin along its lower edge in both sexes, and this in the male is 

 edged with blue and in the female with orange. Another point 

 of distinction lies in the colour of the throat. Instead of the 

 black-dotted white or yellow of the Smooth Newt, the throat of 

 the Palmate Newt is flesh-coloured without dots. 



Above, the colour is olive-brown with darker spots ; below, 

 the centre is orange bordered by pale yellow, with or without 

 black spots. 



After the breeding season, when the adults leave the water, 

 the webbing of the feet being no longer useful becomes 

 reduced to a margin along each toe and no longer constituting 

 a palm ; but the truncated tail remains as a specific distinction, 

 though the thread-like prolongation becomes very short in the 

 female. 



