TEANSFOEMATION OP NEWTS. 35 



may verify for himself. We cannot in our brief description have 

 a more trustworthy guide than Professor Rymer Jones, who 

 selects the Water Newt, Triton cristatus, as an example : — 



" Immediately before leaving the egg," he says, "this tadpole 

 presents both the outward form and internal structure of a fish. 

 The flattened and vertical tail, fringed with a broad dorsal and 

 oval fin ; the shape of the body and giUs, appended to the side of 

 the neck, are all apparent ; so that were the creature to preserve 

 this form throughout its life the naturalist would scarcely hesitate 

 in classing it with fishes, properly so called. 



"When first hatched it presents the same fish-like body, and rows 

 itself through the water by the lateral movement of the caudal fin. 

 The only appearance of legs as yet visible consists in two minute 

 tubercles, which seem to be sprouting out from the skin imme- 

 diately behind the branchial tufts, and which are, in fact, the first 

 buddings of anterior extremities. Nevertheless, to compensate to 

 a certain extent for the total want of prehensile limbs, which 

 afterwards become developed, t^ supernumerary organs are pro- 

 visionally furnished in the shape of two minute claspers on each 

 side of the mouth ; by means of these the little creature holds on to 

 the leaves which are under water. 



" Twelve days after issuing from the egg, the two fore-legs, which 

 at first resembled two little nipples, have become much elongated, 

 and are divided at their extremity into two or three rudiments of 

 fingers. The eyes, which were before scarcely visible, being covered 

 by a membrane, distinctly appear. The branchiae, at first simple, 

 are divided into fringes, wherein red blood now circulates ; the 

 mouth has grown very large, and the whole body is so transparent 

 as to reveal the position of the viscera within. Its activity is 

 likewise much increased ; it swims with rapidity, and darts upon 

 minute aquatic insects, which it seizes and devours. 



" About the twenty-second day the tadpole for the first time 

 begins to emit air from the mouth, showing that the lungs have 

 begun to be developed. The branchite are still large. The 

 fingers upon the fore-legs are completely formed. The hind- 

 legs begin to sprout beneath the skin, and the creature presents, in 

 a transitory condition, the same external form as that which the 

 Siren lacertina permanently exhibits. 



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