NE WTS. 



295 



Crested Newt. 



Belonging to the group in which the males are provided with 

 a dorsal crest, this species (M. cristata) differs from all the others in 

 the absence of a f ronto-squamosal arch to the skull ; while it is further character- 

 ised by the serration of the crest, and the orange and black-spotted coloration of 

 the under-parts. The total length varies from 5 to 5| inches, and the toes of both 

 limbs are free. The colour of the upper-parts is brown, blackish, or olive, with 

 more or less distinct black spots ; the sides are white-spotted ; and the under-parts 



MALE AND FEMALE OF MARBLED NEWT (nat. size). 



orange, with black spots or marblings. During the breeding-season the head of 

 the male is marbled with black and white, and there is a silvery band along the 

 sides of the tail ; while in the female the under surface of the tail is uniformly 

 orange. The toes are yellow with black rings. An inhabitant of Britain, this 

 species is spread over the greater part of Europe, extending as far north as 

 Sweden, but unknown in Italy, and ranging eastwards to Greece, Turkey, and 

 Russia. Not improbably Blasius's newt (M. blasii), from North-Western France, 

 is a hybrid between the present and the next species, having the form and 

 coloration of the former, but the fronto-squamosal arch of the latter. 



