AMPHIBIA. 363 



like fishes, by means of branchiae or gills while in 

 the water, whereas on emerging into the air they 

 have lungs at theii- disposal. Such, for example, is 

 the case with 



The Mud Fish (Lepidosiren * Frotoi:)terus\). These 

 animals ai-e met with both in Africa and America ; 

 they are only found in the ditches of the rice-fields, 

 which are for more than half the year under water, 

 while during the other half they are dry. While the 



y 



L.^ 



Fig. 294. — mud-fish. 



tropical rains continue, or as long as the waters pre- 

 vail, the creature breathes by gills, and lives the life 

 of a fish, which, in outward form, it much j-esembles ; 

 but when the Avater begins to dry up, it burrows 

 into the mud that a vertical sun speedily bakes 

 into a hard crust. An aperture, however, is left in 

 this clayey cell, by which air is admitted, and therein 

 the mud-fish, enveloped in a thick coat of slime, 

 passes the dry season rolled up and in a torpid con- 

 dition. In this state they are dug out of the ground 

 like potatoes and fried like Eels. 



The Lepidosiren above described, from its scaly 

 covering, seems properly to belong to the Class of 

 Fishes, notwithstanding its amphibious capabiKties ; 

 but there are numerous creatures, decidedly rej)ti- 

 lian, equally provided with both kinds of respiratory 

 apparatus. 



The number of animals that in their adult state 

 are so fui-nished is very small ; but there are many 



* AeTTis — iSos, lepis — lepidos, a scale ; sireu, an annual noticed 

 further on — Scaly Siren. 



t TTpuTos, protos, first ; irrepou, pteron, a wing or fin — i.e. with 

 rudimentary fins. 



