450 



THE NATURE BOOK 



subsequently seized by the 

 females. 



The eggs, which have a 

 ^^w ^rv;-\i#F' -^--x jiar-'.- -^^T glutinous covering, are 



[Hr mm^ti^^-',' ^ JS^ ^*^Wm. ^^.id singly, and the female 



attaches each one to the 

 edge of a flexible leaf of 

 some suitable aquatic 

 plant. She then folds the 

 leaf back on itself, using 

 her hind feet and mouth 

 for the pui-pose, so that 

 the ^%^,, whose glutinous 

 and half his sides are a deep olive green envelope seems sufhcient to hold the 

 spotted with black : the rest of his sides folded leaf together, is completely hidden 



FEMALE PALMATED NEWT USING HER TAIL FOR 

 PREHENSION-A RATHER RARE OCCURRENCE. 



are yellowish, deepening on the under 

 portion of him to a deep orange and also 

 spotted with black. His throat is whit- 

 ish. The under edge of his tail is crimson, 

 the middle ultramarine : both parts are 

 barred with black. The ridge of his 

 festooned crest is tipped with carmine. 

 In different individuals there is consider- 

 able variation, and the brilliance of the 

 colours is undoubtedly influenced by his 

 surroundings ; but the above description 

 may be taken as fairly typical of the male 

 newt at his best. The female has little, 

 if any, crest. Her colour scheme is 

 oli\'e, orange, and yellow, the two latter 

 colours being confined to the under por- 

 tions of her, and conspicuous on the tail 

 where there are no black bars to break 



and safe from the attacks of small free- 

 swimming enemies. 



I have on one occasion seen a female 

 swimming about with an ^g% " palmed " 

 in her hind foot ; but, as I have not 

 obser\'ed this a second time, I fancy that 

 the first leaf selected must for some reason 

 have repelled the ^gg, and that this stuck 

 to the newt's hind foot when she brought 

 pressure to bear. Eventually she was 

 compelled to find a more suitable leaf. 



Given a supph' of suitable weed (vernal 

 star wort seems to suit her excellently), 

 the female newt will continue laying for 

 several days. Thirteen is the largest 

 number of eggs which I have seen de- 

 posited by a single captive newt, but I 

 have no doubt that under normal condi- 



them. She also is sometimes spotted tions this number would be largely ex- 



with black, but the spots tend to be 

 smaller than in the male, and to run to- 

 gether in lines. In both sexes the skin 

 is perfectly smooth, and — even when 

 they are far from the water — moist. 



The courtship of the male 

 newt provides an entertaining 

 spectacle. He directly faces the 

 female, slowly waving his tail 

 and rippling his crest, so that, if 

 the lady of his choice has any 

 sense of colour (it is difficult to 

 see what meaning the brilliant 

 colours have unless they can be 

 definitely connected with sexual 

 selection), she must be captiv- 

 ated. When this performance 

 has been repeated before several 

 females the male withdraws 

 from the scene of conquest 

 and deposits spermatophores 

 in various places. These are 



ceeded. The egg within its leaf covering 

 soon commences to swell, and matters can 

 usually be so arranged that the develop- 

 ment of the embryo can be easily watched. 

 Perhaps the best arrangement is one 



MALE OF THE PALMATED NEWT. 

 Showing the filament at the end of the tail. 



