APODA. 289 



logy would rather induce the presumption that 

 they are carnivorous, and devour living prey. 

 They are said to bury themselves in the moist 

 earth, or in the soft mud of marshy places, bur- 

 rowing through it like earth-worms, which they 

 much resemble, often several feet below the sur- 

 face. Their motion on the ground is said to be 

 slow, but in the water they swim with facility, 

 with lateral undulations. In these particulars 

 they agree with the Amphibia which we have re- 

 cently noticed ; but with the curious diversity of 

 relation that marks these doubtful animals, 

 their reproduction, on the other hand, carries 

 back our thoughts to the Angues and TypJilopes, 

 for like these, the Ccecilice are ovoviviparous. 

 M. Leperieur, during his stay at Cayenne, hav- 

 ing procured a living specimen, which he placed 

 in a vessel filled with water, saw it bring forth, 

 in the space of some days, from five to seven 

 young, perfectly similar to their mother. MM. 

 Dumeril and Bibron, who give us this informa- 

 tion, remark on it, that the fecundation of the 

 ova in this Order, must be efiected within the 

 interior of the body ; and that the metamor- 

 phosis must take place in the body of the mother, 

 as in the case of the Black Salamander of the 

 Alps. M. Muller's observation of hranchice in 

 the Leyden specimen, however, is adverse to 

 this last conclusion. 



Nine species are described, arranged in three 

 genera ; the greater number of these are found 

 in the warm regions of America ; two are natives 

 of India, and one of the American species is 

 found also in the Seychelles Islands, in the 

 Indian Ocean. 



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