78 
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
access of the water, as these ova were hatched while lying in the bottom 
of the vessel, and had been knocking about for several hours, in a small bottle, 
in my pocket, previous to having been placed in the window. I do not 
mean to assert that the ova are not deposited also singly in the folded 
leaves, but merely that they are not necessarily so. The progress of their far¬ 
ther metamorphosis has been so well detailed by Bell that a lengthened descrip¬ 
tion on my part were superfluous; suffice it to state, that the newts lived Avith 
me for fourteen days from the day they were hatched, and five weeks from their 
extrusion as ova; they then died, and, at this period, the most forward had the 
anterior extremities well-formed, and the situation of the posterior marked by a 
protuberance on each side, as you may see. 
With respect to fecundation, my observations would lead me to corroborate 
Professor Bell’s statement, in opposition to the belief of Kusconi and others, 
including Higginbottom—z.e., I believe it is to be internal, with actual contact. 
This species is distributed through the entire of this county (Dublin), even at 
considerable elevations above the sea. I have found them near the summit 
of Howth, and in every quarry-hole among the Dublin and Wicklow mountains. 
It is known by several names—in its aquatic state, as man-keepers, man-eaters, 
dark-leukers, daddy-leukers, and art-leukers; and, in its terrestrial stage, as the 
dry ask and lizard. It is much earlier in awaking from its hibernation, and seeking 
the water here than in the midland counties of England. I generally find them in 
the ponds in the Bishop’s Fields, about the second week in February. In other 
parts of Ireland they are pretty generally distributed. Thompson states, u occur¬ 
ring from north to south, but not generally distributed and in his comparative 
list records it in Belf »st, Dublin, and the west. There are numerous specimens of 
this species, obtained in the north, in the Ordnance Survey collection, now in the 
Museum of Irish Industry. I have obtained it in, or received specimens from the 
following places :—North of Clare, rare ; Tipperary, north, scarce ; south, common; 
King’s County, Kildare, Wicklow r , Wexford (where it is also called Evet); Kil¬ 
kenny, on the authority of the Rev. J. Graves, who informs me it there goes by 
the name of dark leuker, which, he suggests, is derived either from dearc, a reptile, 
and leucair, brightness—z.e., the shining reptile ; or from luacrac—z.e., the reptile 
dwelling in rushy places—by this name it is known all over Ireland. It is also, I am 
informed, found in Louth, Queen’s County, and Carlow. It is omitted in the 
catalogue of the Cork Cuverian Society; and I searched for it unsuccessfully about 
Youghal and Ardmore, though I have reason to believe it is found in part, at least, 
of the County Waterford. Rutty, in his u Natural History of Dublin,” mentions 
this animal among u the quadrupeds,” in its two states, as distinct species :—1st. The 
dry ask, or man-keeper; 2. The water ask, or arglogher (the last manifestly the 
same word as dark leuker, which name, in some parts of the County Dublin, is 
pronounced art looker). He mentions, for the purpose of contradiction, two 
traditions, connected with it as current in his time—1st. That it is poisonous. 
2nd, That it can live in the midst of fire. With respect to its popular name, I 
find some of the lower orders call both the dry ask and the water ask, man-keeper 
or man-eater, while the names dark leuker, &c., are restricted to the animal in its 
aquatic state. In Scotland, in Gaelic, the animal is also called Dearc luachrach. 
I find, also, that, in part of Kilkenny, it is also called Derrig na dioul—a name 
properly applied to one of the Staphylinidas. This brings me to the third part of 
my paper—viz., the superstitions connected with this animal; there are several of 
these curious and interesting, as having a connection with the religious belief of the 
former inhabitants of this country, and are now fast dying away. In almost every 
part of the country we find these animals looked on with disgust and horror, if not 
with dread; this arises from two superstitions—one, common to a great part of 
Ireland, relating chiefly to the animal in its aquatic state, and which, in the County 
of Dublin has earned it the names of man-eater and man-keeper, though the 
dry ask of the county of Dublin—z.e., the animal in its terrestrial stage, is supposed 
to be equally guilty with the first-mentioned in the habit of going down the throats 
of those people who are so silly as either to go to sleep in the fields with their 
mouths open, or to drink from the streams in which the dark leukers harbour; 
they are also said to be swallowed by the thirsty cattle; in consequence, the country 
