208 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 
colour is more usually blackish or olive-brown with darker circular spots above, and yellow or 
orange-red with black spots or marbling beneath, while the sides are speckled white. In the 
breeding-season the colours are more especially brilliant, and it is at this time that the male 
develops the serrated crest along the middle of its back, from which it takes its title. 
The eggs, or spawn, of the newt are deposited in a different fashion to those of the frog 
and toad. In place of being aggregated together in an irregular or ribbon-like mass, each 
is deposited separately and attached to the leaves of water-plants. By the dexterous use 
of its feet, the female newt twists or folds the leaf, or a portion of it, around the egg, its 
viscid envelope allowing it to readily adhere, and it is thus effectually concealed or protected 
from injury. When about a quarter of an inch long, the tadpole escapes from the egg. At 
this early stage the gills are quite simple and the front limbs represented by mere knobs. 
Immediately in front of the gills are two fleshy lobes, by means of which the tadpole can 
temporarily adhere to the surfaces of water-plants. Within a fortnight the little animal has 
grown to double the size. The gills are now elegantly branched and the fore limbs well 
developed. The latter are, however, only bifurcated at their extremities, and it is some little 
time later that four distinct toes are possessed by each fore limb and that the hind limbs 
make their appearance. ‘The gills, which have at this stage reached their most complex state 
of development, now begin to diminish in 
size, and are gradually absorbed, the lungs 
in the meantime acquiring their full 
functional proportions. The newt, having 
now passed from the fish-like to a reptilian 
stage, is unable to live entirely beneath 
the water, and is obliged to come up to 
the surface at intervals to breathe, or is 
adapted for living entirely upon land. 
Newts in their fully matured state, except 
during the breeding-season, pass much of 
their time on land, and wander to con- 
siderable distances from the water. They 
at all times, however, exhibit a preference 
for moist situations, such as a shady wood 
or damp cellar. 
Like the toad and blind-worm, the 
feeble, inoffensive newt has from the earliest 
time to the present day been the victim of the most unmerited dread and persecution among 
the uneducated. In some country districts it is not only accredited with the property of 
biting venomously, but of spitting fire into the bitten wound. A property that is actually 
possessed by these creatures is that of reproducing lost parts. The Geckos and other lizards, 
as already recorded, are in the habit of reproducing their mutilated tails. The newt, however, 
beats that record to the extent of reproducing lost legs, and, it has been affirmed, eyes also. 
A second species of British newt, of somewhat smaller size and even more common 
than the crested one, is the COMMON or SMOOTIL NEWT. It scarcely exceeds 3 inches in length, 
and is distinguished by its smooth skin and relatively less conspicuous crest. In habits it is 
less addicted to a prolonged aquatic residence than the crested form, and wanders to more 
considerable distances from water. One of the largest and handsomest representatives of the 
family is the MARBLED NEWT of Southern France and the Spanish Peninsula, which attains 
alength of 8 or 9 inches. The upper-parts of the male at the breeding-season are bright 
bronze-green with irregular black markings; its crest is ornamented with black and white 
vertical bars, and a silvery white band is developed along the sides of the tail. The crestless 
female has a distinctive orange streak running down the centre of the back. 
The TRUESALAMANDERS have no British representative, thoughthe common or spotted species 
A ae 
Plcieily ores B. ifthe 
SMOOTH NEWT 
This species often travels long distances from water, taking up its residence 
in damp cellar, and vaults 
