NEWTS. 



297 



the body and longitudinal streaks on the head. In the male there are also minute 

 brown speckles on the head ; and the dorsal, as well as the upper part of the caudal 

 crest, together with the hind-feet, are blackish. Except for a median orange zone, 

 the under surface is uncoloured, although there may be a few small blackish dots ; 

 there are a series of spots along the upper and lower borders of the tail, and the 

 crest on its lower surface is orange in the female and bluish grey in the male, 

 The webbed newt has been recorded from Britain, France, Belgium, Holland, 

 Switzerland, Western Germany, and the north of Spain. 



With the exception of the banded newt (M. vittata) of Asia 

 Minor and Syria, distinguished by the presence of a black band along 

 each side of the body, all the other members of the genus are devoid of a crest 

 along the back in the male. One of the most remarkable of these is Waltli's newt 



Other Species. 



Habits. 



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



(M. waltlii), from Spain, Portugal, and Tangiers, distinguished by the elongation 

 of the ribs, which in some instances actually perforate the skin, so as to form a 

 row of sharp points on each side of the body. In a fossil state the genus has been 

 recorded from the lower Miocene paper-coal deposits near Bonn. 



Since the general habits of all newts are very similar, one account 

 will serve for the entire group; but it must be remembered that 

 whereas the whole of them are aquatic during the breeding-season, at the close of 

 that period some species leave the water and live for the rest of the summer on 

 land ; while nearly all seem to pass some portion of the year out of the water. 

 Newts generally prefer clear and running water, with plenty of aquatic plants on 

 which to deposit their eggs. On land they are somewhat awkward and slow, but 

 in water they swim with great rapidity by the aid of their oar-like tails, their 

 hind-legs being pressed close to the sides of the body; their mode of progression 



