FISH-LIKE SALAMANDERS, OLMS, &C. 397 
and killed it whenever they had the opportunity of doing so, call- 
ing it, I believe, the Congo Snake. It is hardly necessary, how- 
ever, to say that the animal is perfectly harmless. 
The Siren is not seldom thrown with the mud on the land 
when ditches and ponds are being cleared out. It will live for a 
long time in captivity if provided with a suitable Vivarium, which 
should be arranged so that a bed of fine sand slopes into rather 
deep water. There also ought to be a small quantity of moss 
under which the Salamander can hide. It will feed upon garden 
worms and mealworms, eating several at a meal. 
S. lacertina has a tongue which covers the floor of its mouth 
and is free in front; jaws with a bony sheath like a beak ; 
vomerine teeth; a long eel-like body; a short head; a broad 
snout; tiny eyes; well-developed labial lobes; two short fore 
limbs, and no hind limbs; a tail shorter than the body, much 
compressed, finned, and ending in a joint; a smooth skin, blackish 
in colour, occasionally finely spotted with white. This Batrachian 
sometimes grows to a length of three feet. 
The Siren retains its gills throughout life—and, like the 
Proteus, has enormous blood corpuscles. 
