CHAPTER, X VIE. 
C&CILIANS. 
HE Ceecilians, or worm-like Batrachians, have been placed in 
the order Apoda, and in the family Ceciliide. These 
creatures are characterised by a worm-like, or, in some 
cases, a snake-like appearance, by the total want of limbs, and 
by the tail being either rudimentary or altogether wanting. 
Some have overlapping scales embedded in the skin, and others 
are scaleless. The eyes of these Batrachians are either under 
the skin or below the cranial bones. Their vertebrz are bi-con- 
cave. Their mouth is small and situated on the lower surface of 
the head. These animals possess tentacles, either above or below 
the nostrils. 
In the family Ceciliide there are eleven genera and about thirty- 
five species. The Coecilians, when fully grown, are terrestrial, 
and chiefly spend their time in burrows underground, leading a 
life similar to that of a worm. 
Certain of these Batrachians are ovo-viviparous, while others 
deposit their eggs in damp earth, near water, the mother coiling 
herself about them, after the manner of a female Python. The 
young, while within the egg, develop large external gills, which, 
in course of time, are absorbed, and the gill-openings become: 
closed. Some little time after their birth the larve, for a short 
period, take to the water. 
