SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



261 



seemed to feel the process more than usual, 

 although generally not very lively at the skin- 

 changing period, but brightening afterwards. On 

 a ' former occasion I watched nearly the whole 

 process of skin changing. He always seemed 

 fatter than usual beforehand and refused food. 

 The following description of the process I quote 

 from my notebook, dated December 30th, 1891 : — 

 " The newt has been very quiet for a day or two, 

 and refused to eat slugs. To-day it changed its 

 skin, and I watched nearly the whole process. The 

 skin had rolled down as far as the neck. The 

 newt then crawled about, and by swelling itself 

 out above and contracting below the skin, it 

 gradually worked down. The animal then drew 

 out its front paws, pushing the skin down as far as 

 it could along the back with them. Then the 

 same process of wriggling, swelling, and contract- 

 ing commenced, with long rests between whiles, 

 until the skin arrived at the hind legs ; these were 

 drawn half out, and then the tail was pulled out 

 with the hind legs. Finally it got the cover- 

 ing off the one hind leg and nearly off the 

 other, and took a very long rest, then walked away, 

 and pulled it off the last hind leg by pressing the 

 ground with the tail. The newt walked right 

 away, and did not eat the skin. The operation 

 lasted over an hour. I have just been looking at 

 the newt again, about four hours later, and find 

 that the skin has gone. I wonder has it eaten it." 



It will be seen from the above that my newt did 

 not sleep all the winter. Probably captivity altered 

 its habits, or the warmth of the house was deceptive. 

 It would sleep at times, and then be lively and 

 hungry, just when worms could not be obtained. 

 My pet was able to endure great cold without appa- 

 rent inconvenience, and several times in the winter 

 has taken a bath, but stayed too long in the water, 

 and I have found it the next morning in the centre 

 of a solid block of ice. I always allowed the ice 

 to thaw naturally, and when free my pet would 

 appear as well as ever. The newt was fondest of 

 the water in the early spring or late winter, when 

 its crest was appearing, but would go in all the 

 year round, especially in the evening. 



I never heard him utter a sound but once, an 

 account of which I again quote from my notebook, 

 dated July 5th, 1894: "To-day I was pulling at 

 some plants «i the cage, and suppose I must have 

 hurt the newt, for I distinctly heard him utter a 

 little cry. Never before have I heard a newt make 

 any sound." 



If Dr. Cooke, is correct in saying that newts take 

 five years to come to their full growth, mine must 

 have been about twenty years old, for he was fully 

 grown when I got him. His cage was always an 

 attraction to our friends, and there are many who, 

 though wondering at my taste for such a strange 

 pet, regret his loss. 



Mytton Vicarage, Whalley, near JBlacltbwrn. 

 January, 1901. 



BUTTERFLIES OF THE PALAE- 

 ARCTIC REGION. 



By Henry Charles Lang, M.D., M.R.C.S., 

 L.R.C.P. Lond., F.E.S. 



(Continued from page 238.) 



1. C. aurorina H. S. 453-6 (1850). Tamiara 

 Nord. ; cJirysocoma Eversm. 



50 — 61 mm. 



Shape of C. edusa. Markings almost similar, 

 but the expanse of wings is much larger. $ has 

 the ground colour deep orange with violet reflec- 



C. aurorina. Male. 



Br 



1 . aurorina. Female. 



C. aurorina vox. libanolica. 



tions, considerably less free from basal shading 

 than C. edwa. Marg. border very distinctly 

 veined on both wings. It seems to occur only in 

 the light form. It greatly resembles a large ab. 

 helice, but has the groundcolour altogether white 



