6 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



animal or vegetable matter. But I need 

 not make any suggestions. All these ideas 

 have been thrown out before, and the 

 matter is as much a puzzle as ever. 



Newts Growing Smaller. 

 We had an aquarium when I was a boy 

 at home. It was of considerable size, per- 

 haps four feet long by two feet wide, with 

 water a foot deep. The rock work in the 

 middle was raised above the water, and a 

 number of ferns, &c., grew on the top. Into 

 this we introduced two Newts. I did not 

 then know there was more than one species, 

 and I expected these, which no doubt were 

 the Smooth Newt [Lophinus punctatiis), to 

 be the Crested Newt {Triton cristatus) in an 

 inmature state. They were placed among 

 the ferns with the idea they would make 

 their way into the water, but they did not 

 do so, and after a lew days they had dis- 

 appeared. Nothing more was seen of them 

 for a long time. I regret I cannot say how 

 long, but I should think more than one year, 

 perhaps more than two. Some new ferns 

 were being planted on the top, and a piece 

 of the stone was removed in the operation. 

 There, underneath it, in a cavity between 

 it and the slate on which it was built, were 

 the two missing newts. But so changed. 

 They were unmistakeably smaller — shorter 

 as well as less in bulk, and they had a 

 shrunken, shrivelled, starved look about 

 them, the skin appearing to be 



"A -world too -wide for their shrunk"— 

 forms. From this time food was placed at 

 intervals within reach of these little crea- 

 tures. Generally they took it, but I do not 

 think we ever saw them do so. Now that 

 we knew where they were, they were often 

 turned out. If they were put into the 

 water they soon scrambled back ; and still 

 they shrunk and shrunk till their death. 

 During all the time they were observed, 

 they seemed to be in a state of semi- 

 torpidity, such as I have since seen them in 

 during winter and spring when I have found 



them under stones. They were rather stiff 

 and very slow in their movements, which 

 they seemed to make unwillingly, and when 

 put in the water were generally a short time 

 underneath before they semed to make an 

 effort to get out. 



I have placed these two notes in succes- 

 sion as possibly having some bearing the 

 one on the other. 



The Sand Lizard growing a New Tail. 

 I have often had this pretty little lizard 

 as a home pet. It is a great acquisition to 

 a window fernery, and does not seem to do 

 any harm to the ferns. Like the coster who 

 had "finished jumping on his mother," it 

 " loves to lie a-basking in the sun," and will 

 soon become so tame as to take a fly from 

 your fingers. But it v.'as not to speak of its 

 habits in this way that I refer to it, but to 

 its power of growing a new tail. When at 

 large it is a very active creature, and not 

 easy to capture. You have to be very quiet 

 and very quick if you wish to obtain one. 

 Should you seize it by the tail, it runs on as 

 if nothing had happened, leaving the tail in 

 your hands. The tail so cast off will writhe 

 and "squirm" for a considerable time. If 

 the day be warm it will continue to move 

 for from twenty minutes to half-an-hour. 

 Should you capture the lizard as well as 

 the cast-off tail you will find the little 

 creature is no worse or very little for the 

 member it has lost. In a day or two a scar 

 will form over the joint : this gradually 

 enlarges, becomes pointed, and is soon like 

 a very short, stumpy , tail. It continues to 

 j grow, and before the summer is over the 

 animal has acquired a tail as perfect as 

 before. So far as I could observe, the 

 entire tail commenced to grow at once, not 

 one joint at a time, but altogether, length- 

 ening out by degrees. It seems very mar- 

 vellous that it should be able to produce 

 jointed bones in this way. Whether any 

 other limb could be reproduced I am not 

 able to say, but should be glad to learn. 



