366 



ABKANCHIA. 



four limbs, these are so minute, so rudimentary, and 

 placed so far apart, as scarcely to affect this eel-like 

 contour. The toes on their feet are scarcely more 

 than little pimples. 



These animals appear to form an exception to the 

 universality of metamo^yJiosis in the Class. They 

 habitually reside in the water, but are exclusively 

 air-breathers, no gills having been observed at any 

 stage of their life, though there is an orifice on each 

 side of the neck. The eyes are small, and the bones 

 of the spine present, both in front and rear, that con- 

 cavity which marks the vertebrm of Fishes. To this 

 Order belong 



The Amphiumas, called by the negroes, who erroneously regard 

 them as being exceedingly venomous " Congo Snakes.'' They live in 



^\N^.o,., 



Fig. 296.— two-toed amphiuma. 

 muddy waters, or in mud, being sometimes found three feet deep in 



