AMPHIBIANS 155 



and tarsus cartilaginous; no eyelids; vomerine teeth prominent, forming 

 an arched series parallel with those of the jaw; 2 pairs of weak legs; tail 

 short, compressed: i genus. 



Amphiuma Garden. With the characters of the family: 2 species. 



A. means Gard. Congo snake. Body dark brown above, light 

 below; length 886 mm.; tail 182 mm.; 2 toes on each foot; costal grooves 

 about 60: Virginia to Florida and westward to Louisiana; in 

 swamps, sometimes on the land; eggs about 150 in number and with a 

 diameter of 9 mm. 



A. tridactylum Cuvier. Similar to A. means but more distinctly 

 bicolored and larger and with 3 toes on each foot: northern Florida 

 to southern Louisiana, and up the Mississippi Valley to Missouri. 



Family 6. Proteidae. — ^Body elongate, with 2 pairs of weak legs, 

 each leg having 4 toes; 3 pairs of gills and 2 pairs of gill shts persistent 

 throughout life, the animals being permanent larvae and completely 

 aquatic; pubis with an anterior projection: 2 genera, the species of one 

 of which, Proteus, are found in caves in southern Europe, and are blind 

 and colorless. 



Necturus Ratinesque. Toes 4 on all four feet; eyes very small: 2 

 species. 



.V. maculosus (Raf.). Mudpuppy; waterdog. Body subcylindrical; 

 head flattened, with a fold of skin across the throat; tail compressed; 

 color of adult dark brown above, lighter beneath, more or less spotted 

 and splotched with darker brown and black; young striped; length 360 

 mm. ; tail 1 10 mm.-; extreme length 600 mm. : valleys of the Great Lakes 

 and the ^Mississippi north of the Gulf States; Lake Champlain ; Susque- 

 hanna River and the upper Hudson; Manitoba; southward into northern 

 Alabama and Arkansas; often very common in rivers and lakes. 



Subspecies of X . maculosus 



N. m. maculosus (Raf.). Distribution as above. 



N. m. lewisi Brimley. Size very small: in the Atlantic piedmont 

 drainage of the Carolinas. 



N. punctatus (Gibbes). Head short, elevated; length 170 mm.; 

 tail 50 mm.; color pale, unspotted: North and South Carolina, in rivers 

 of the coastal plain. 



Suborder 2. Meantes. — Three pairs of gills persistent through- 

 out life; maxillaries wanting; vertebrae amphicoelous ; no hind legs; 

 no teeth on the jaws; 2 ossifications in the shoulder girdle: i family. 



Family Sirenidae. — Body verye longate, eel-shaped; hind legs 

 and pelvis wanting; carpus cartilaginous; 3 pairs of external gills which 



