SALAMANDERS. 51 



troduced, and aquarium keepers can now purchase 

 them alive at any of the London naturalists. Still, we 

 doubt whether either of these exhibit so much intelli- 

 gence as our own newts, or if they exceed them in 

 beauty. The great water newt (Triton cristatus), Fig. 9, 



Fig. 9. 



Great or common male of Water Newt (Triton cristatus). 



notwithstanding the roughness of its warty skin, has 

 a bright orange colour on the under part of the body 

 which gives it a very attractive appearance. Its move- 

 ments in the water are even more graceful than those 

 of fishes. These animals have long been regarded with 

 dislike and suspicion, and not many years ago farmers 

 believed they could cause rheumatism and paralysis 

 to cattle by creeping over their limbs. Even yet this 

 superstition may be found lingering in out-of-the-way 

 corners of England. We have ourselves heard myste- 

 rious diseases and complaints in cattle attributed to 

 their drinking pond water in which newts were known 

 to be abundant ! The readiness with which country 

 lads pelt newts to death even yet, is a " survival " of 

 this ancient and ignorant prejudice. We need not 

 say how thoroughly without foundation is this notion, 

 or descant on the cruelty to which it has given rise. 



E 2 



