202 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



above account we see nothing to warrant 

 the popular idea that this reptile is a poison- 

 ous animal ; yet in most rural districts, 

 where the new efforts on behalf of the 

 education of the people have had but very 

 little effect, it is so considered, and is posi- 

 tively affirmed to sting and bite, to spit fire, 

 and to be full of poison. Some Berkshire 

 children, when speaking to me of the illness 

 of another person, said that his malady 

 arose from the attack of a newt, which had 

 not only bitten him, but had contrived to 

 reach his neck for that purpose — a very 

 remarkable feat, truly. Perhaps, however, 

 the man was lying down when the fierce 

 attack was made. Another poor fellow, so 

 I was informed, had been bitten on the 

 finger when a boy by a newt, and the finger 

 had never grown afterwards. I think I need 

 hardly tell my readers that, despite the 

 above and similar tales, the newt is a very 

 inoffensive little creature indeed. This spe- 

 cies of newt secretes an acid liquor in its 

 warts like the toad. 



Naturalists tell us that the newt has the 

 wonderful power of producing a limb which 

 it has lost several times in succession. 

 About this I believe there can be no doubt, 

 though, of course, I have never made an 

 experiment of this nature. 



The newt has few enemies, the chief being 

 ignorant man. Snakes will search for them 

 both in water and on land, and I have seen 

 a domestic hen with a large one in her 

 bill, cackling loudly, as if she had secured a 

 great prize. That tyrant of pools and 

 ditches, the great water beetle, (H. margin- 

 alis), has been known to destroy the newts 

 in an aquarium. 



Towards the end of autumn the warty 

 newt retires to hybernate. Generally speak- 

 ing, this would be in October ; but I have 

 on one occasion seen warty newts moving 

 about so late as the third week in Novem- 

 ber. The warty newt sometimes passes the 

 winter in the mud at the bottom of ponds ; 



but those which have migrated from the 

 water in summer generally pass the cold 

 season under stones and in holes. In my 

 diary I find the following note:— "A man 

 who was employed in repairing the road 

 opposite our house to-day (February 6th) 

 found under a heap of stones about a dozen 

 large newts clinging together in a torpid 

 state. They did not move on being struck 

 with the spade. There were both males 

 and females among them. Some of the 

 females were full of ova. The roadman, 

 after denouncing the reptiles as deadly 

 poison, chopped them up with his shovel 

 and covered them over. 



The length of this newt does not exceed 

 six inches. The skin is covered with warts 

 and pores. The upper parts are very dark 

 brown, on which rounded spots of a still 

 darker colour are plentifully distributed. 

 The sides are speckled with white. The 

 under parts are bright yellow, inclining to 

 orange, spotted with black, the spots often 

 running into each other and forming bands. 

 In the breeding season a high and jagged 

 crest runs along the back of the male. The 

 superior size and warted skin of this newt 

 easily distinguishes it from the other species. 

 When young, the warts on the skin are not 

 so apparent. 



Standlake, Oxon. 



HELPS AND HINTS FOR 

 YOUNG ENTOMOLOGISTS. 



By Albert H. Waters, B.A. 



It is now halcyon days with the working 

 lepidopterist, and the number of insects he 

 is likely to meet with is so large, that only a 

 moiety of them can be here mentioned. In 

 the meadows, in the clover-fields, and by 

 the hedge-sides, where the bramble blossoms 

 offer sweet enticement, are fluttering butter- 



