the angle at the base of the footstalk, and at others, placing them within a folded leaf. In the latter case, the manner in which she proceeds is interesting and curious. We quote Professor Bell’s words of another species, which are, however, sufficiently descriptive of this:—“The female, selecting some leaf of an aquatic plant, sits, as it were, upon its edge; and folding it by means of her two hinder feet, deposits a single egg in the duplicature of the folded part of the leaf, which is thereby glued most securely together, and the egg is thus effectually protected from injury.”[1] The process goes on through the spring and early part of the summer, continuing much longer than that of the Anourous Amphihia.
In its growth and development, the Tadpole of the Newt does not materially differ from that of the Frog. Like that, it presents a beautiful object for microscopic examination, the leaf-like gills exhibiting the branchial circulation of the blood, the red globules of which are seen “accelerated by momentary jerks through the vessels;”—while the beautiful transparency of the oar-like tail offers no impediment to the view of the vital fluid in the general or systemic circulation.
About the beginning of July many of the young Newts, having completed their metamorphosis, leave the water, and remain on land. And not long afterwards, the adults follow their example, and creep about the herbage of the banks, or resort to damp hollows, cellars in the neighbourhood of rivers, and similar humid retreats. The fine crest of the male begins to
- ↑ “British Reptiles,” 122.
