GREAT WATER NEWT. 149 



turbing the water and removing the clay, and who occasion- 

 ally clear the bottoms of the pools, state that they never find 

 any tritons in the water during the winter months ; but 

 they discover great numbers of them in holes in the clay, and 

 sometimes ten or twelve coiled together. I have observed 

 that either a very wet or very dry situation is fatal to the 

 triton during its state of hybernation, and that a moderately 

 damp one is always chosen for that state of existence. 



When in this state respiration is very low, and 

 is believed to be carried on through the pores of 

 the skin. No food is taken or required during 

 this period, and the body is comparatively stiff. 

 Tritons of the third and subsequent years usually 

 hybernate in company, a number of them being 

 rolled together into a lump as large as a cricket- 

 ball. Those of an earlier period seem to descend 

 deeper into the earth, and hybernate singly, 



WTien these reptiles are kept in confinement, 

 it will be supposed from what has already been 

 stated, that the aquarium is not the best place 

 for them except in the tadpole state, or the 

 breeding season for mature specimens ; but that 

 they should be kept in a case under some 

 arrangement that water may be sought of their- 

 own will when desired, and that during the 

 winter some provision should be made for their 

 hybernation under somewhat similar conditions 

 to those enjoyed in the natural state. To force 

 them at some periods of their life to exist in 

 water is something like endeavouring to compel 



