The Smooth Newt.- 



-REPTILES.- 



-The Glutinous Salablisdek. 



97 



newt, which he says he has seen swallowed hy tliese 

 animals, when so large as to occasion great difficulty 

 and delay in the act of deglutition. They are seldom 

 found out of the water, and in winter they commonly 

 remain torpid at the bottom of ponds and ditches until 

 the warmth of spring recalls them into activity. During 

 this period of retirement the male loses his dorsal crest. 

 It does not full off, however, but is gradually absorbed. 

 They shed their skin at particular seasons. It coraes 

 oil' in shreds, and is washed away as it becomes loose. 

 The principal organ of progression in the water is the 

 tail ; and during the act of swimming the logs are 

 turned backward, so as to admit of the smallest degree 

 of resistance. Impregnation is efl'ected in the water, 

 according to the observations of Professor Bell, by 

 simple contact, and the manner in which the female 

 deposits her eggs is very interesting and curious. 

 Selecting some leaf of an aquatic plant, especially the 

 common Spotted Persicaria {Polygonum Persicaria), 

 she seats herself as it were upon its edge, and folding 

 it up by means of her hind feet, deposits a single egg 

 in the duplioature of the folded part of the leaf. The 

 two sides are thus glued firmly together, and the egg 

 effectually protected from injury. As soon as this one 

 egg is deposited, the creature leaves the leaf, and soon 

 afterwards seeks another to place upon it another egg. 

 The period of time during which the female is thus 

 engaged, is much longer than is the case in the tailless 

 Batrachians, extending over some months, or from the 

 middle of April to the middle of July. Rusconi, an 

 Italian naturalist, has watched tliis process with great 

 care, and has followed up the development of the young 

 animal to its full growth. The metamorphoses they 

 undergo resemble very much those of the frog, and 

 the time occupied varies according to the temperature 

 of the season. An egg deposited on the 23rd of April 

 was sufficiently advanced by the Gth of May to produce 

 a tadpole, and allow it to escape from its envelope ; 

 but it did not reach the full maturity of that state till 

 the 18th of July. On the 27th of the same month the 

 gills had disappeared, the animal respired atmospheric 

 air, and had arrived at its perfect state. 



THE SMOOTH NEWT, Small Newt or Eft, A.sk 

 in Scotland [Lophinus or Lissotritoti punclatus), is 

 another species which inhabits this country. It is con- 

 siderably smaller than the preceding, being less than 

 four inches in length, and has the skin quite smooth, 

 like that of the common frog. The colours vary very 

 much at ditferent periods of the year and in the two 

 sexes. The male is usually of a brownish-gray above, 

 passing into yellow beneath, which in spring becomes 

 a rich, briglit orange, and is everywhere marked with 

 round dark spots of unequal size. The crest in 

 spring is often tipped with bright red or violet. The 

 female is commonly of alight yellowish-brown, or even 

 buff, with scattered brown dots. The flat, compressed 

 tail terminates in a sharp point, and the crest of the 

 back and tail are contimious. This species is very 

 abundant, being found in almost every ditch and pond 

 throughout the country. It affords food to several 

 kinds of fish, as well as to the Great newt just described, 

 and feeds itself upon small aquatic insects, worms, and 

 molluscs. The Smooth newt is not so strictly aquatic 

 Vol. II. 



in its habits as the Warty newt, as in June many of 

 the young which have recently arrived at the perfect 

 state are to be found on land, creeping about amongst 

 the herbage in the neighbourhood of water, or in damp 

 places, frequently concealing themselves amongst the 

 roots of shrubs and plants, and sometimes venturing 

 even into damp cellars. The reproduction and meta- 

 morphosis of these animals resemble almost entirely 

 those of the preceding species ; but tlie growth of the 

 young during the summer and autumn is very rapid, 

 as they reach their full adult size the first year. It 

 was on this species tliat the Abbi5 Spallanzani tried his 

 well-known experiments on tlie reproduction of por- 

 tions of the legs and tail. This little reptile, accord- 

 ing to Mrs. Lee (late Bowdich), occurs in Ireland, and 

 she says a curious superstition is current among the 

 peasantry about it. It has, according to them, '' a pro- 

 pensity to jump down their throats, making a lodging 

 in their stomachs, and to multiply tliere in the most 

 frightful manner. The only cure is to find a stream 

 running directly south, and to lean over it with the 

 mouth open, when the efts will come out, oue by one, 

 and plunge into the water." 



Family II.— THE MOLGES (Molgida:). 



In this family the teeth of the palate are disposed 

 in two converging series, each line being in the outer 

 hinder edge of the vomerine hones. The head is de- 

 pressed, and there is no bony orbit above the ey-es. 

 The tongue is large and adherent, and the ribs are 

 either rudimentary or altogether wanting. 



There are only two species described, both natives of 

 Japan, the habits of which are very little known. 



Family III.— THE PLETHODONS 

 [PlethodoTiiida). 



In this fiimily the palatine teeth form a short, inter- 

 rupted, cross series in front of the palate, between the 

 internal nostrils, each series running across the hinder 

 end of the vomerine bones. In most of the species 

 the head is large, and the tongue broad and more or 

 less adherent. The skin is generally smooth, rarely 

 granular, and without pores. Thirty- four species are 

 described in the Museum Catalogue of Amphibia, and 

 the number known to exist may be about forty. 



The genus Plethodon contains two species, both 

 of which are natives of North America. In these the 

 head is broad and depressed, and the tongue is large, 

 broad, expanded, and attached nearly the whole of its 

 length by a linear central band, the sides and hinder 

 end being free. 



THE GLUTINOUS SALAMANDER {Pldhodon gluti- 

 nosum) is about seven inches in length, and is of a 

 beautiful bluish-black colour on the upper surface. 

 The back and tail are dotted with small white spots, 

 and the sides are marked with larger spots of the same 

 colour, often confluent. The head is of a semi-oval 

 form, and the muzzle is rather pointed. The mouth 

 is rather large, and the nostrils lateral and near the 

 snout. The eyes are large and prominent, and the 

 pupil is black. The body of this amphibian is elon- 



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