Hurter — Herpetology of 31issouri. 67 



tips of the snout widely separated. Mouth small, inferior, transverse; 

 lower lip marked off by a groove. Lower jaws provided with a black, 

 corneous, sharp-edged covering, like the jaws of tadpoles, in place of 

 teeth. Upper jaw with a similar but smaller plate. Vomerine teeth 

 in two large oblique patches. Three coarsely fimbriate branchial tufts. 

 Branchial openings not large, covered by three free arches, bearing at 

 their inner margins series of short cartilaginous tubercles. The single 

 pair of legs is placed close behind the head. They are rather weak and 

 bear four small digits, which have whitish, sometimes dark, horny 

 tips resembling claws. (Garman.) 



The skin is everywhere perfectly smooth. The tail is compressed 

 from the base to the extremity, and for its distal half is quite thin. 

 It has a strong dermal fin above and below. It commences above oppo- 

 site to the anterior extremity of the vent, and from the rear end of the 

 vent to the end of the tail. (Cope.) 



Color. In living specimens. — Above brown, interspersed with innum- 

 erable darker, roundish spots, not over one millimeter in diameter. 

 Below lead color, closely sprinkled with very small blackish dots. A 

 yellowish band with irregular or poorly defined outline extends around 

 the muzzle and upper lip to the branchial tufts, and below them around 

 the base of the arms. In some of them the inner side of the arms and 

 the lower side of the hands are also yellowish, with the corneous tips 

 of the fingers brownish. In some specimens there is only a short yel- 

 lowish streak on the cheeks. 



Bize. — My largest specimen is 360 mm. long, or 260 mm. from the 

 end of the snout to the posterior end of the vent, and 100 mm. to the 

 end of the tail. 



Habitat. — Dr. Cope states that the geographical range 

 of the Siren is the best measure of the extent of the 

 austroriparian region of North America. It appears in 

 eastern North Carolina, and extends thence throughout 

 the Southern Atlantic and Gulf States through Texas to 

 the west side of the Rio Grande, where it ceases. North- 

 ward it ascends the Mississippi Valley proper as far as 

 Alton, 111.; eastward in the Wabash basin and White 

 River Valley. In the eastern part of Arkansas, in the 

 sunken lands, and in the eastern counties of Missouri as 

 far as St. Louis and Lincoln Counties, as well as in Union, 

 Randolph, Monroe, St. Clair, and Madison Counties, 111., 

 it is often encountered. 



Habits. — Sirens feed on worms and minnows. Most of 

 those in my possession were caught with hook and line 



