COURTSHIP AND MATING OF AMPHIBIANS 153 
the Great Crested Newt (Molge cristatus, fig. 1113), which is 
one of our few native forms. During the time of courtship 
the male possesses a special adornment in the form of a high 
saw-edged crest on the upper side of his body and tail, besides 
which his colours are brighter than those of the other sex. 
The vocal attractions of male Frogs are often considerable. 
In the Edible Frog (Rana esculenta), for instance, the male 
possesses a pair of croaking sacs at the corners of the mouth, 
which can be dilated to serve as resonators, imparting a mellow 
tone to his voice. The “concerts” of this and other species 
Fig. 1113.—Great Crested Newt (Molge cristatus). Male above; female below 
are as striking in their way as the musical efforts of Howling 
Monkeys and some other Mammals. The following picturesque 
account of an evening performance of the kind is given by 
Thoreau (in Walden):—‘In the meantime all the shore rang 
with the trump of bull-frogs, the sturdy spirits of ancient wine- 
bibbers and wassailers, still unrepentant, trying to sing a catch 
in their Stygian lake,—if the Walden nymphs will pardon the 
comparison, for though there are almost no weeds, there are 
frogs there,—who would fain keep up the hilarious rules of 
their old festal tables, though their voices have waxed hoarse 
and solemnly grave, mocking at mirth, and the wine has lost 
its flavour, and become only liquor to distend their paunches, 
and sweet intoxication never comes to drown the memory of 
the past, but mere saturation and water-loggedness and disten- 
