9 



Color a bluish black, paler below. Sides of head sometimes with a 

 yellow band from muzzle to gills. 



The length attained may be as great as thirty to forty inches. 



Distribution from North Carolina west to Mexico, and up the Missis- 

 bi})pi Valley to Alton, 111., and Lafayette, lud. 



Indiana localities: New Harmony (Sampson's coll.); Mt. Carmel, 

 (Nat, Mils, coll.); Terre Haute (B. W. Evermann) ; Lafayette (S. Coul- 

 ter) ; Washington, Daviess County (C. H. Gilbert). 



Habits. — One of the earliest and best accounts that we have of the 

 hal)its of this cnrious animal was given by Dr. B. S. Barton, of Phila- 

 delphia, in a letter addressed to John Gottlob Schneider, the author of 

 " Historia Amphibiorum," Schneider and some other authors supposed 

 that the Siren was only the larva of some yet undiscovered salamander. 

 Barton argues against this notion with ability. He states that the favor, 

 ite resorts of the Siren are the rice ponds and the adjacent muddy 

 grounds. It sometimes attains a length of 20, 30, or even 40 inches. 

 Where it abounds it is, according to Barton, called "Alligator" and 

 " Water-lizard." He kept one for almost a year, and experimented with 

 it. During this time, it underwent little or no change in either size or 

 condition of its branchise. While in the water, the gills are incessantly 

 in motion. The animal appears to depend only partially on its gills for 

 oxygen, since various observers have noted its coming frequently to the 

 surface for air. Barton says that in warm weather it comes to the surface 

 every five minutes, while in colder weather it comes up about every fifteen 

 minutes. It has the power to remain under water for more than an hour 

 at least. It appears to spend a good portion of its time burrowing in the 

 mud of swamps. Barton thinks that it sometimes travels overland, 

 although its movements on land are slow. An earlier observer. Garden, 

 who corresponded with Linnseus, declares that the Siren may crawl up 

 on the trunks and limbs of fallen trees, likewise that it sings with a 

 querulous voice similar to that of a young duck. This idea gave origin 

 to the name Siren. It possibly emits a shrill, somewhat hissing tone like 

 that of the Amphiuma. Barton appears to think that the Sirea can take 

 water into the mouth through the nostrils ; an interesting observation in 

 view of the fact that some salamanders do the same as a means of breath- 

 ing. Cope (51, 224) has recorded his observation that in small specimens 

 the branchise are rudimentary and apparently functionless, and that it is 

 only in the adult individuals that the gills are fully developed. 



Linnaeus affirms that the Siren lives on serpents which it catches and 

 holds with its strong teeth. Barton doubts this, but considering the 

 great voracity of the Batrachia in general, and the large size reached by 

 some of the Sirens, it appears quite reasonable. Their teeth, however, 

 are not "strong." Barton fed his specimen on angleworms, pieces of 



