218 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



putty ! It snapped and swallowed a small piece six times in 

 succession, and snapped at it twice after, making eight in all, 

 after which it refused the dummy, although taking the worm. 

 The front legs are never used in feeding as in the Toad. 



It is worth remarking that by some means or other the 

 Newts in a pan of water, which have not themselves noticed the 

 presence in the water of a worm, nevertheless frequently appear 

 to realize it immediately, as soon as another Newt has seized 

 the worm and given it the usual shake from side to side — a 

 useful instinct which prevents the coiling of the worm around 

 the Newt, and which is given also with dummies, but not with 

 animals other than worms. A sense of taste very probably 

 exists, as I have seen an empty Newt sometimes come up and 

 place its lips against those of another which had just swallowed 

 a worm, and afterwards show by its tendency to snap at its 

 comrades that it knew there had been food about. 



x. 



A Newt, on arriving at the edge of a square board raised above 

 the ground, as a rule stops and pauses before throwing itself 

 over. I discovered that at heights of 180 centimetres and 

 upwards the Great Crested generally refused to go over, after 

 hanging over the edge and looking down to the ground beneath, 

 which in all these experiments was covered with a dull brown 

 cloth. Some animals would go over at any height, others would 

 show great hesitation at the 180 centimetres, eventually slip- 

 ping over — it was difficult to tell whether by accident or inten- 

 tionally. If the Newts are in a hurry, or in a state of excitement, 

 they rush off at any height. Similarly with three Newts which 

 were extremely lethargic through hybernation. It is interesting 

 to observe that in the case of fifteen M. cristata, which, in the 

 beginning of September, were removed from water to a vivarium, 

 the heights at which they would throw themselves over the edge 

 of the board varied in inverse ratio as the length of time that 

 they had been removed from the water. After being in the dry 

 box for forty-eight hours, 60 centimetres was refused by nine to 

 six. After ninety-six hours only two went over. On the fifth 

 day five refused 6 centimetres. On the next day nine refused 

 15 centimetres, two refused it at the first trial (going over sub- 



