260 



SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



LIFE OF A PET >~EWT. 



By M. E. Ackerley. 



I I AVlNG recently lest a newt, which I kept in 

 -* — *- captivity for about fifteen years, it appears 

 to me that some little account of its life may be of 

 interest to the readers of Sciexce-Gossip. 



During the summer of 1885 or 1886 my brother 

 went fishing for tench in a pond in the neighbour- 

 hood. He was not successful in obtaining any 

 tench, but he had one catch, which proved to be a 

 newt. He brought it to me. and together we made 

 a home for it out of an old soap-box. We put in 

 soil and moss, also a dish of water sunk to the 

 level of the surrounding earth, and covered the 

 box with wood and perforated zinc. The newt was 

 placed in the cage and kept in the garden. The 

 animal soon grew accustomed to its new surround- 

 ings, and would readily take worms from our 

 hands. 



I cannot say with certainty to what species of 

 newt it belonged. Judging from the description 

 in Dr. Cooke's " British Reptiles." I thought it was 

 the male of the great water-newt (Triton eriztatv.s) : 

 but I have been told that in some parts of England 

 this species is much larger than my newt, or any 

 we find about here, so it is possible I may be mis- 

 taken. It was about five inches long, including 

 the tail : head, tail, and back were black, though, 

 if looked at closely, the black proved to be a sort 

 of chocolate brown, with patches of darker brown 

 that appeared black. The underside was brilliant 

 orange, with black patches, and along the sides 

 were white dots exactly like the picture in Dr. 

 Cooke's book. The skin was rough with little 

 warts. In the autumn and winter there was a 

 small ridge along the middle of the back, from 

 head to tail. In spring and summer this ridge 

 developed into a crest. 



We thought this newt would be happier with a 

 companion, so my brother went on another fishing 

 expedition, and returned home with a female newt 

 of the same species, without the ridge and crest. 

 This second newt never settled down to captivity. 

 and a short time afterwards it disappeared. Think- 

 ing it had probably escaped, we made a better cage, 

 with a piece of glass to cover the top. This was 

 brought into the house and placed in front of a 

 window on the staircase. At different times I gave 

 the newt companions, but none of them became 

 tame, and they generally vanished in a few weeks. I 

 suspected my old newt to have made a meal of 

 some, but as one had evidently escaped by raising 

 the glass. I had a still better cage made. The 

 floor and framework of solid oak fitted into a zinc 

 rray, the four sides and the top being of glass. 

 All the glass was fastened firmly, except the top 

 glass which slid in and out of a srroove. but was 



so tightly pressed down by the top of the groove 

 that it was impossible for a newt or anything 

 else to raise it. In this cage my newt lived 

 happily till last autumn. I used to feed it 

 at intervals, generally on worms, putting a 

 number in at once. It would come out from 

 its hiding-place, under half a small flower-pot. 

 when I whistled, and would take wonns from me, 

 usually not caring for more than three at a meal. 

 The remainder, being put in the cage, would burrow 

 the soil and come up in the evening, when the newt 

 was generally prowling round seeking for prey. 

 H he had finished the worms in the cage and I 

 did not bring more, he would try to attract my 

 attention by coming near the glass when I passed. 

 When worms were scarce I would give him slugs. 

 but he was not very fond of them, and in winter I 

 have tried him with underdone beef, but that he 

 refused. He always liked his food to show signs 

 of life. He would take quite large worms, and I 

 remember an occasion when he had begun on one 

 end of a moderately large worm, but meanwhile 

 the other end of the worm was hurriedly making 

 its way into the soil. The newt, finding that no 

 amount of pulling would draw the worm from the 

 earth, tried a very ingenious plan. Holding the 

 one end of the worm tightly in his mouth, he 

 suddenly began to roll over and over with, for a 

 newt, great rapidity, the result being that the 

 worm broke in two, and so, though the newt could 

 not have the whole worm, he obtained half. He 

 always ate his worms from one end in a series of 

 gulps with intervals between, and would keep 

 lifting the worm to prevent its burrowing. When 

 the last bit had disappeared into his mouth he 

 would be very quiet for a few moments, and then, 

 after one or two yawns, he would be ready for 

 worm number two. Sometimes I put aphides in. 

 and, though I never saw him eat them, they always 

 vanished. He would also eat green caterpillars. 



Early last November I got some worms and 

 took them to the cage, but no newt was to be seen, 

 and as he did not come when I whistled I was 

 rather alarmed, and decided to empty the cage, 

 taking all the soil out by teaspoonfuls. and search- 

 ing carefully among the moss and sphagnum and 

 in the water, also under the cage-floor. The newt 

 could not be found, living or dead, but any quantity 

 of worms, showing he must have been missing for 

 some time. It still seems an absolute impossibility 

 that he could have escaped, and yet if he had died 

 his skeleton at least would have remained. I may 

 possibly have overlooked the skeleton, otherwise 

 his end is wrapped in mystery. The last time I 

 saw him he was slowlv chansrins his skin and 



