NEWTS AND SALAMANDERS. 447 



members of the same genus. This species is a somewhat solitary and slug- 

 gish creature, spending most of the year on land, but resorting to th.e water 

 during the spring, when breeding takes place. Usually the young are born 

 alive, but occasionally eggs are laid, when they almost immediately hatch. 



A large number of tadpoles come into the world at once, and these, in 

 the ordinary mode of development, have already lost their gills. Formerly, 

 highly poisonous properties were attributed to this salamander — as they, 

 doubtless, still are among the uneducated peasantry of various parts of 

 Europe, — and the creature was believed to be capable of being cast into a 

 furnace without suflering harm. Beyond secreting an acrid fluid, it is, how- 

 ever, perfectly harmless. The range of this species includes a considerable 

 part of Europe, as well as Syria and Algeria. Nearly allied is the somewhat 

 smaller black salamander (iS. atra) of the Alps. Although many eggs may be 

 found in the body of the female, it appears that only a pair of tadpoles are 

 produced, these being nourished by the eggs which never develop. While 

 within the Body of the parent, these tadpoles have very long external gills, 

 which are shed previous to birth. Many years ago some tadpoles in the 

 gilled condition were taken from the parent and placed in water. Almost 

 immediately the large gills were cast off, and their place taken by much 

 smaller ones, which remained for a long period. As remarked by Professor 

 Mivart, "the curious and noteworthy point in this exjjeriment is the fact 

 that, after the original gills (which were unadapted for free external life (have 

 perished, new and suitable gills become developed, and this not in a struggle 

 for existence against rivals, but directly and spontaneously from the innate 

 nature of the animal. " The third and last species is /S. caucasica, from the 

 Caucasus, which differs from the other two in that the tail is shorter than the 

 head and body. Its colour is black, with rows of roundish yellow spots on 

 the back. It may be remarked here that in both the spotted species the 

 young are uniformly dark-coloured, the yellow markings being only gradually 

 acquired. Hence the ornamentation may be regarded as a lately acquired 

 feature. On the other hand, where — as in the lion and deer — skin-markings 

 occur only on the young, such ornamentation is very ancient, and tending to 

 disappear. The Sjianish salamander (Ghioglossa htsitanicii) differs by the 

 tongue being fixed on a protrusile pedicle. ' 



From the true salamanders, the newts (Molge) are distinguished by the 

 laterally compressed form of the powerful tail, as well as by their perman- 

 ently aquatic mode of life. Many of 

 the species, too, are furnished with an 

 upright longitudinal fin on the back, 

 such fin generally attaining a special 

 development during the breeding season 

 in the males. Newts range over the 

 three great continents of the Northern 

 Hemisphere, although they are unknown 

 to the south of the Himalaya, and are 

 much more abundant in the Old World 

 than in the New. They are the only Fig. 12.-C!!.ested -Newt (Molgi^stata). 

 members of the order inhabiting Britain, 



where the common species in many districts is to be met with in every pond. 

 The handsomest and largest of the British species is the crested newt (M. 

 cristata), which belongs to a group characterised by the presence of a fin-like 

 crest on the back of the males, and in some cases of the females also, where. 



