348 Mr Neill m the Habits of a 



(whose fame will be greatly raised by his recent work on 

 " British Animals"'') adopts the reasoning of the Italian natura- 

 lists, and vindicates their conclusions, in his " Philosophy of 

 Zoology,'' vol. ii. p. 297. 



It is remarkable that some parts of the natural history of the 

 siren should still be very imperfectly known, not only to eminent 

 European naturalists, but even to acute observers residing in 

 the United States. We have seen that Configliachi and Rus- 

 coni are of opinion that the siren, if taken out of the water, 

 would soon die; and we may add, that the author of the article 

 Herpetology in the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia observes, that the 

 Siren lacertina '' appears to reside entirely m the water. It 

 was supposed by Linnaeus, from the form of its feet, that it can 

 also move with tolerable ease upon the land ; but we believe it 

 has never yet been seen in that situation." 



In a paper on the genera of batrachian animals, by Mr 

 Barnes, secretary of the New York Lyceum (published in Silli- 

 man's American Journal, October 1826), we have the most re- 

 cent notice regarding the siren. After describing the animal, 

 he mentions some facts illustrative of its habits, and alludes to 

 some of the opinions entertained concerning it. We are told, 

 that " a specimen in Scudder's Museum (New York) has al- 

 ready lived several years in a glass jar of clear water ;" and 

 others an equal length of time " in a tub containing mud 

 brought from their native marshes in Carolina." These, " when 

 taken from the mud, immediately struggle to return, and seem 

 contented only when they are in their natural element. When 

 they are concealed in their retreat, the place of the head and 

 gills is readily known by the rising of small air-bubbles from 

 their spiracles ; — a fact which may lead to the determination of 

 the function of these doubtful organs." " Several authors 

 affirm that sirens thrown on the ground break into several 

 pieces." While Mr Barnes hesitates to believe this, he adds, 

 ^' But the want, or the high value of specimens among us *, 



• The siren, though not uncommon in the days of Garden, seems now to 

 have become a rare animal even in South Carolina. M. Bosc, in the New 

 Pictionary of Natural History (xxxi. p. 317), mentions that, during a resi- 

 dence of a year and a-half near Charleston, he was not able to find one living 

 specimen, although he was desirous of studying tlie habits? of so curious an 

 onim^. 



