ic2 THE BOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



range of this chapter, but a female of the common form, taken 

 from a pond while breeding in spring, can be kept for a few weeks 

 in order to obtain eggs. For this purpose the aquarium should 

 be abundantly furnished with waterweed, and should contain 

 stones or some other contrivance to permit the newt to quit the 

 water at will. Fertilisation is internal, and the female will 

 therefore lay fertile eggs for a considerable period after her 

 separation from the male. The process of egg-laying is extremely 

 interesting, and should be watched with care ; it is a much more 

 elaborate process than in the case of the frogs. The sticky eggs 

 are laid singly, and are carefully placed by the female on the 

 leaves of water plants. The egg is first deposited on the leaf, 

 and this is then folded by the hind feet, with the result that 

 the egg is sheltered between the two halves of the leaf. The 

 little tadpoles hatch in about a fortnight, and have external 

 gills, at first simple and later branched, with processes in front 

 of them by means of which the larva can attach itself to water- 

 weed. The fore limbs are present in rudiment, and their develop- 

 ment precedes in time to a considerable extent that of the hind 

 feet. The most interesting point about the animals is, however, 

 the development which the gills speedily attain. They become 

 greatly branched, and as they are delicate, transparent organs 

 they serve to demonstrate the circulation of the blood much 

 better than the web of the frog's foot, the classical object of 

 text-books. All that is necessary is to put a little tadpole in a 

 watch-glass filled with clean water, place it under the low power 

 of the microscope, and focus on the gills. If the experiment 

 is prolonged, the water should be renewed or a fresh specimen 

 taken from the aquarium at intervals. For class purposes this 

 is infinitely to be preferred to the ordinary experiment, which 

 necessitates keeping a frog in a constrained position, and is often 

 conducted with needless cruelty, which is specially undesirable 

 with a class of children. 



The female of the common newt may be recognised by the 

 fact that the festooned crest of the breeding male is absent, and 

 that the under surface of the tail is orange instead of being red, 

 with a blue band and dark spots, as in the male. The female 

 crested newt has not the high serrated crest of her consort, and is 



