9<J| ON THE PROTEUS ANGUINUS. 



Geology of the The rock tliat composes the hills of Sittich is a compact, 

 place, stratified, calcareous mass, rising in t4ie centre of our Alps 



to the height of 1500 toises above the level of the Adriatic ; 

 and the geological character of which is to be interspersed 

 with funnel-shaped hollows on the surface, and grottoes and 

 caverns internally. 



At the foot of a part of this calcareous rock, at the bottom 

 of the valley of Vir, are two openings or mouths of grottoes, 

 15 or 18 inches in diameter, 3 or 4 feet above the surface of 

 the ground, and about 12 feet distant from each other. 

 From each of these a stream of cold and limpid water flows 

 into a small basin beneath, which is afterward lost in the 

 Seen only in ground about 750 paces beyond the village. The amphi- 

 twobiisin>, bious animal in question has never yet been found in Car- 

 supplied from .7 •' • 1 -J. • 

 subterraneous niola, except in tlte^e two oabins : and as it is never seen m 



cavrns, and them, except on the melting of the snow, or after heavy 



tions. ' rains, it is supposed, that the overflow lag of the subterranean 



reservoirs, to which they belong, drives them out. The pea- 

 sants of Vir, who know tiiem oy tradition as well as experi- 



Popular names, ence, call them bela riba, wlvite tjsl>, or zhioneshka riba^ tish 

 that has soujethiug ; uman. The latter naine alludes to the 

 joints Oi their toes, or ringers, aiid viic colour of their skin. 



By whom no- The animal was. tirst made known to the public by Dr. 



iiced. Laurenti, in his Sijrwpsis ReptUiKm^ in 1/68. He gave jt 



the name of proleus anguinus. Scopoli, who saw it alive,^ 

 gave a fuller description of it in 177-ij io l''s Anims Quiutus 

 Htsforico-Naturaiis. He says, that L nneus, to whom he 

 sent it, considered it as the larva of a lizard ; but hettiought 



Linnetis?iT?- it a distinct genus. Linneus however expressed himself 



pected It to be cloubtingly both on this and the proteus tritoniusofSchianck, 

 found in lakes in tlie interior parts of Austria ; leaving it to 

 accurate and repeated observation to decide, whether or not 

 they underwent a transformation at a late period. 



To forward the solution of the problem, Baron Zois sent 

 several specimens of the proteus anguinus preserved in spirit 

 to Dr. Scnreiber, professor of natural history at Vienna, that 

 he might dissect them. The anatomical description is given 



«' at length in the Philosopliical Transactions for 1801. 



Its ar!alQ«*v to '^'^ principal analogy between the proteus and the larvae 



larvae of some of some amphibia, which has occasioned them to be con- 

 founded 



a larva. 



Dissected. 



