214 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



the movements must therefore be repeated through some un- 

 known and wholly adventitious nerve mechanism, which seems 

 impossible. The explanation of useless habits as they occur 

 in the Newt and other animals probably lies in the nervous 

 inertia of these animals. They prefer, when hard pressed as in a 

 labyrinth, to repeat an old movement rather than seek out new 

 and more appropriate ones. We can observe not an exactly 

 parallel but an analogous case where a man in a labyrinth, out 

 of which he had not found the way, would, in wandering up and 

 down the passages, form after a time little habits of movement 

 that would save him mental exertion. 



Part 2. 

 VII. 



In attempting to form an opinion on the general psychology 

 of the Newt, it is necessary to take into consideration the various 

 chapters in the story of its life. There is one which stands out 

 in particular, amid its general amphibian sluggishness, as proof 

 of an unexpected amount of nervous activity stored up in the 

 brain which only develops periodically — I mean its courtship 

 displays in the spring. In the Palmate, for example, the male 

 assiduously follows the female about, taking advantage of every 

 opportunity to display. Its display attitude is well known — 

 curved body, hollowed-oufc, cavernous side on the inside of the 

 curve, and the rapidly vibrating tail and caudal filament. The 

 whole aspect of the animal is one of extreme activity and nervous 

 tension, which, occurring as it does in a Newt, is thoroughly 

 surprising. This excitement expends itself along the easiest 

 line by travelling into the tail, which is so easily swept from 

 side to side, or vibrated. Most courtship displays can be 

 explained in the same way as a matter of accident. In the 

 case of the Great Crested Newt a gradation is found, leading up 

 to that which obtains in the Palmate. The Great Crested does 

 not bend the tail back flat along the side, and rapidly vibrate it ; 

 it merely waves the tail like a happy dog or an angry cat. Its 

 excitement is less than the little Palmate's. 



The handsome and distinguishing features of the male Palmate 

 all lie along the sides of the body, one or the other of which is 

 always turned towards the female during courtship displays. It 



