COURTSHIP AND MATING OF AMPHIBIANS 153 



the Great Crested Newt (Molge cristatus, fig. 1113), which is 

 one of our few native forms. During the time of courtship 

 the male possesses a special adornment in the form of a high 

 saw-edged crest on the upper side of his body and tail, besides 

 which his colours are brighter than those of the other sex. 



The vocal attractions of male Frogs are often considerable. 

 In the Edible Frog (Rana esculent a), for instance, the male 

 possesses a pair of croaking sacs at the corners of the mouth, 

 which can be dilated to serve as resonators, imparting a mellow 

 tone to his voice. The "concerts" of this and other species 



Fig. 1113. Great Crested Newt (Molge cristatus}. Male above; female below 



are as striking in their way as the musical efforts of Howling 

 Monkeys and some other Mammals. The following picturesque 

 account of an evening performance of the kind is given by 

 Thoreau (in Walden)'. "In the meantime all the shore rang 

 with the trump of bull-frogs, the sturdy spirits of ancient wine- 

 bibbers and wassailers, still unrepentant, trying to sing a catch 

 in their Stygian lake, -if the Walden nymphs will pardon the 

 comparison, for though there are almost no weeds, there are 

 frogs there, who would fain keep up the hilarious rules of 

 their old festal tables, though their voices have waxed hoarse 

 and solemnly grave, mocking at mirth, and the wine has lost 

 its flavour, and become only liquor to distend their paunches, 

 and sweet intoxication never comes to drown the memory of 

 the past, but mere saturation and water-loggedness and disten- 



