Newt

a tailed animal of the frog family. The newt is related closely to the salamander. There are many species. The life history of the newt is much the same as that of the frog, save that the newt does not lose its tail. The English newt never ceases to frequent the shallow, sluggish waters of ditches and ponds. It is not to exceed three inches long. It lives on worms, larvae, insects; it is a harmless, unattractive creature, for which no particular use has been found, unless, indeed, it devours the wrigglers of mosquitoes. The common American newt deposits usually one egg at a time on a water plant. This, in May or June. In twenty or thirty days, according to temperature, the tadpoles appear. By August the tadpole may have become a tiny, four-legged creature with branching outer gills. Late in autumn the young newt loses its gills, takes to the woods, and secretes itself in some damp spot under a log or beneath leaves. At this stage it has a beautiful red color. Several years are required to attain maturity. The adult is of an olive green color with orange-colored spots along the sides. It is about three and one-half inches long. It takes to the water when the breeding season comes. The English newt of literature is a warty creature, about six inches long, living in ditches and ponds on aquatic insects, tadpoles, and the like. It swims by means of its tail. The female deposits eggs singly on aquatic plants. The witches described in Macbeth, it will be remembered, put into their bubbling cauldron: