Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/905

 TRITON TRITON. L The proper name of the tailed trachians of the old genus triton (Laur.), nerally called newts or water salamanders ; ley all belong to the northern hemisphere, TRIUMPH 875 into Water Newt (Triton palustris). id their species are most numerous in North Lmerica. The tail is depressed and adapted )r swimming in most, though many are not rictly aquatic, but pass much of their life on le land, some visiting the water only during 16 breeding season; indeed, the distinction terrestrial and aquatic species is very indefinite, species with either of these habits being found in one genus. In the breeding season, in the spring, the males acquire a fin- like fringe along the back and tail and mem- branous appendages to the toes ; the species are difficult to distinguish on account of the varieties of sex, age, and season. Reproduc- tion takes place by means of eggs, which are fecundated before they are deposited, and the young resemble tadpoles in form and gills. The most carefully studied species is the crested triton or water newt of Great Britain (T. pa- lustris, Flem.), about 6 in. long, of which the tail is about two fifths ; this species will suffice for the generic description. The body is naked, but covered with warty tubercles, and with glandular pores behind and over eyes and along sides ; toes without nails, four anterior and five posterior ; the dorsal and caudal crests separate; tongue slightly free on sides, and more free and pointed behind ; palate with a double longitudinal series of teeth ; no parotids nor glands along the back. The smooth-skinned species, without lateral pores and with a con- tinuous dorsal and caudal crest, have been noticed under EFT. The head is flattened, nose rounded, gape large, teeth numerous and small, and the neck hardly distinct from the head and body. It is common in ponds and ditches, and one of the most aquatic of the family, swimming by means of the tail, the legs being turned back against the body ; the legs are used as balancers in the water, and for a slow and feeble creeping on land ; the skin comes off in shreds in the water, and is swallowed. The eggs are deposited on the leaves of aquatic plants, which are folded around them, one egg to each leaf ; the parents resume a terrestrial existence in a few weeks, but the young, born in June or July, remain, according to Bell without much change till the following spring when they acquire legs and leave the water. In the water they are voracious, feeding on aquatic animals, insects and larva;, the tadpoles of the frog, and even those of their own spe- cies. They are noted for their tenacity of life under mutilation and exposure to severe cold, and for the power of reproducing lost parts. They are blackish or light brown above with darker round spots, and bright reddish orange below with round black spots, and the sides dotted with white. The many-spotted triton of the Atlantic states (T. dorsalit, Harlan ; genus notophthalmus, Raf .) is about 4 in. long, of which the tail is half ; it is olive or green- ish brown above, with a row of circular ver- milion spots on each side, and below orange studded with small black dots ; eyes prominent, with flame-colored iris ; posterior limbs twice as large as anterior ; it is eminently aquatic, and dies soon out of water from the drying of the skin ; it is torpid only in the severest wea- ther ; it is found from Maine to Geor- gia, forming a very lively and interest- ing animal for the fresh-water aquari- um, and easily ob- tained. Several oth- er species occur on the Atlantic coast. II. A genus of gas- teropod mollusks of the murex family, having a conical and elongated shell, spi- rally convoluted. The T. variegatum (Lam.), 12 to 16 in. long, from the In- dian seas, is the well known sea conch or trumpet of the god Triton ; this species, as well as the T. amtrale (Lam.), is used by the Polynesians as a horn. TRIUMPH (Lat. triumphus, related to Gr. eptaftpoe, a hymn sung in a procession in honor of Bacchus), generally, a solemn procession to celebrate a victory. The ancient Romans made the triumph a stimulus to martial exploits, and the highest military honor that could be ob- tained by a general, who entered the city in a chariot drawn by four horses, preceded by his captives and spoils and followed by his army, with which escort he passed along the Via Sacra, and ascending to the capitol sacrificed a bull to Jupiter. A triumph was granted by the senate to a general who had gained im- portant successes, if he had already held one of the great offices of state; if the victory had been gained under his auspices and with his Sea Conch (Triton variegatum).