AMl'HIUMIDAE 



lOI 



front of the fore-liniLs lies the pair of small gill-clefts, each 

 guarded l»y two flaps of the skin. There are four l)rauchial arches. 

 The general colour of this eel-shaped creature is hlack, lighter 

 helow. The head is covered witli numerous pores, arranged in 

 several rows, which imite in the region of the neck, so that only 

 two rows extend along the sides of the body. It reaches a 

 length of three feet, and lives in swamps or muddy waters, 



Fig. 18. — Anqjhiuma means. x i. 



for instance in the ditches of rice-fields, burrowing occasionally in 

 the mud, feeding on crayfishes, molluscs, small fishes, etc. It is 

 confined to the south-eastern States of North America, from 

 (Jarolina to Mississippi. According to Davison,^ copulation takes 

 place in May. The rather hard-shelled eggs are deposited in the 

 following August or Septemlier, and are connected by a twisted 

 cord. The female lies about them in a coil. The embryos, which 

 are liatched in the month of November or December, have w^ell- 

 developed external gills. By the following Feljruary tliey have 

 1 J. Morphol. xi. 189."), p. 375. 



