REPTILES IN THE TARN AND THE GREEN LANES. 73 



are formed the gills are absorbed, and thus their 

 material so far goes to form the limbs. At length, 

 just at the time when the legs are so far perfected 

 as to enable the triton to leave the water, the gills 

 have been lost altogether, there being no further 

 use for them. No doubt, many of our readers have 

 been puzzled at the various different appearances 

 which the same species of triton presents. These 



Figs. 60 and 61. 



Great Water Newt, at end of first and second years. 



are due to the fact that it takes three years to 

 develop the newt to maturity, and the different 

 stages of that period are represented by peculiar 

 external appearances. Thus, at the end of the first 

 year of its life, the triton is only two inches long, 

 at the end of the second year, three inches, at the 

 end of the third four, and at that of the fourth it 

 will be found to have reached its greatest size, 

 which is five or six inches. Not until the breeding 

 season of the third year, does the crest along the 



