29 6 NEWTS AND SALAMANDERS. 



Marbled Newt. 



Of the other European species, one of the handsomest is the 

 marbled newt (M. marmorata), from France, Spain, and Portugal, of 

 which a male and female are represented in the illustration on p. 295, Having 

 a ligamentous fronto- squamosal arch to the skull, this species is specially dis- 

 tinguished by the smooth dorsal crest of the male, and by the under-parts being 

 generally dark with white dots. The total length is about five and a quarter inches. 

 In general colour the upper-parts are green with black marblings ; the crest of the 

 male being ornamented with black and white vertical bars, while in the female an 

 orange streak runs down the middle of the back. The sides of the tail have a 

 silvery white band, most distinctly marked in the male during the breeding-season ; 

 the under-parts are brown or greyish, with more or less distinct darker spots, and 

 dotted with white ; and the green toes are marked with black rings. Rare in 

 France, this species is common in Spain and Portugal ; and it lives in ponds 

 and streams only in the early spring, spending the remainder of the year on 

 dry land. 



The next species for notice is the Alpine newt (M. alpestris), 

 Alpine Newt. ■ 



represented in the illustration on p. 289, which differs from the last by 



the much lower dorsal crest of the males, and likewise by the uniformly orange 



colour of the under-parts. In size it is a comparatively small species, varying from 



three and a quarter to four inches in length. In colour the upper-parts, which may 



be either uniform or with darker marblings, vary from brown, greyish, to purplish ; 



the sides have a series of small black spots on a whitish ground, beneath which, in 



the male during the breeding-season runs a sky-blue band ; the crest on the back 



and tail is white with round black spots ; the throat is frequently dotted with 



black ; the under-parts are uniform orange or red ; and the lower edge of the tail 



of the female is orange spotted with black. The Alpine newt inhabits France, 



Belgium, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and the north of Italy. 



A fourth European representative of the genus is the small common 



newt(ilf. vulgaris), which belongs to the same group as the preceding, 

 and is distinguished by the festooning of the dorsal crest, the lobate hind-toes of 

 the male, and the black-spotted under-parts. Abundant in almost every English 

 pond and ditch, where the water is sufficiently clear, this species ranges all over 

 Europe, with the exception of the south of France, Spain, and Portugal, and is 

 likewise widely distributed in temperate Asia. It measures about three and a 

 quarter inches in length, and has a nearly smooth skin. The upper-parts are brown 

 or olive in colour, with darker spots, larger and more rounded in the male than in 

 the female ; the head is marked with five longitudinal dark streaks ; the under- 

 parts are yellowish, with a median orange or reddish zone, and marked with black 

 spots in the male, and dots of the same in the female. In the latter the lower edge 

 of the tail is uniformly orange, whereas in the male it is red, bordered with blue 

 and interrupted by vertical black bars. 

 Webbed Newt ^ ie ^^ °^ ^ e European species we can notice at length is the 



webbed newt (M. palmata), distinguished from all the preceding by 

 the bony fronto-squamosal arch to the skull, and likewise by the webbed hind-toes 

 of the male. This is the smallest species yet noticed, its length not exceeding three 

 inches. The colour of the upper-parts is brown or olive, with small dark spots on 



