BIRLIN.RAPIIY. The works on the newspaper are all considerably out of date. For a general view of the history of the press down to its re 1,111 mnffirvehm, development, the hest single book is Hudson's Journalism in the United States Asia, and Diemyetylus in North America. The most familiar American newt is the red-spotted one (Dirmyetylus rirideserns). When full grown it is about four inehes long, and is greenish brown above, with a line of vermilion dots on the sides; below, it is orange dotted with black. It inhabits ditches and quiet waters, where it feeds voraciously on all sorts of small aquatic animals. With the beginning of warm weather the females begin to deposit their eggs, which may be laid singly during five or six weeks, and are attached to the leaves of submerged plants. The young hatch in a fortnight or so, and remain in the water, wearing a dull green coat, until the end of the season, when, having com pleted their first metamorphosis, their gills dis appear, the throat and lungs become adapted to breathing air, and they leave the water. Their color now changes to a rich uniform vermilion with fiery button-like spots along the sides. They are then only two or three inches long, and hide under leaves and within rotten logs, feeding upon small worms and the like, but coming out frequently, especially in the night and wet weather. These little creatures are among the prettiest objects in the American woods. This sojourn on land lasts until the autumn of the third or spring of the fourth season, by which time they have nearly attained to full size, and have reached sexual maturity. They then grad
ually change in color back to the original green, and return to the water, where their lungs cease to act. pharyngeal respiration is reestablished, and they proceed to breed. This species is lo cally numerous all over the Eastern United States. A much larger species (Diemyetyhts torosus) occurs in the Western States. It is dark brown in color, yellowish beneath, and the tail is provided with fins. It feeds mainly on earthworms.
Of the Old World species, the most widely distributed is the crested newt (Triton erista tns), which is olive-brown with white blotches on the sides, and the males of which, during the breeding season, have serrated crests along the backs. Another well-known species is the marbled newt (Triton marmoratus), with which the crested newt hybridizes. All newts prefer a cool and moist situation, and hibernate usually in the ground. Sonic species remain all their lives in the water, while others pass most of their limes on land. They east their skins from time to time, more frequently when young, and the east skin is eaten. The breeding habits of all resemble those of our American species. Con sult: Gadow, mphibin and Reptiles (London, 1901) ; Gage, "Life History of the Vermilion Spotted Newt," in 1/i' American at ura ist (Philadelphia. 1891 ) ; Sherwood, Salamanders Found in the Vicinity of Neu' York City New York, 1595) ; Jordan, "Habits awl Development of Newts," in Journal of Morphology, won, viii. (Boston, 1893).