USELESS HABITS IN TWO BRITISH NEWTS. 215 



is a curious fact — to sexual selectionists a very useful one — 

 which I do not think has been pointed out before, that — 



1. The displays invariably take place at the front end of the 

 body of the female Newt where she can see them. 



2. The tail is invariably vibrated on the side which is facing 

 the female. If, in the middle of a display, the female so moves 

 as to be able to see only the other side, the male stops vibrating 

 its tail, unbends it, and turns it round to the other side, where 

 the vibrations are re-begun. 



That the Newt possibly recognizes the female only by sight is 

 shown by the following circumstances : I had in the same basin, 

 with healthy males and females, two unhealthy males, which 

 had developed only to a very slight degree the usual sexual 

 adornments. In fact, they looked very much like females. On 

 two occasions a male — a different one each time — came and 

 displayed before these males, which they obviously mistook for 

 females. As I shall emphasize later on, the frequency with 

 which Newts are deceived by appearances is a marked feature. 

 I have also watched ecstatic little males displaying to a female 

 while the latter was in the act of laying an egg. 



The female remains quite passive throughout ; if she is 

 willing to be fertilized, her willingness is indicated by a hypnotic 

 stare ; she remains motionless long enough for the male's excite- 

 ment to reach its flood, when the spermatophore is dropped. 

 Whether the motion of the tail has any fascination for the 

 female it is difficult to say, but it is worth remembering that 

 Newts are exceedingly quick to observe motion, and are often 

 deluded into snapping at moving objects in mistake for food, 

 while other motions they will watch attentively for minutes at a 

 time. Whatever be the feelings of the female, no one can help 

 being astonished at the abounding energy and enthusiasm of the 

 little male. I have seen it, in a paroxysm of sexual excitement, 

 bend and vibrate its tail, hollow out its body, and lift the whole 

 of its hind quarters and legs off the ground, so that it assumed 

 the appearance of standing on its head. There is no such be- 

 haviour in the Toad or the Frog to compare precisely with this, 

 as the tetanic contraction of the muscles of the fore legs of the 

 Toad on the abdomen of the female, if roughly equivalent in the 

 amount of energy required, is not so spectacular as the Newt's 



