102 LEAVES FROM THE 



them to the Sirens. Only, instead of going to the rock 

 and deep blue sea where the sirens of old haunted, as 

 you, young gentleman, have read in your Virgil,* he 

 must condemn them to be laid in the marshes where the 

 luxuriant crops of rice wave. There, and in swamps, 

 under the entangled roots of time-worn trees, the Ame- 

 rican siren lurks, and thence obtained the somewhat 

 unclassical name of ' The Mud Iguana.' And if you 

 wish to be acquainted with the proportions of the trans- 

 atlantic form, know that Siren lacertina, one of the 

 sisters (whose death we have above recorded), grows to 

 the length of three feet, a dark anguillary beauty of some 

 intensity of colour, with two little hands (or fore feet, if 

 you must be critical), of four fingers each, and instead of 

 lower extremities a compressed tail, with an obtuse fin. 

 When I last saw the defunct, the creature was as large 

 as a child's wrist, and flounced about most vigorously 

 upon being lifted out of its inky bed. Death came upon 

 it at the end of March. Two days before the fatal event 

 it had devoured two small fishes. The weather was un- 

 seasonably cold, and frost and snow prevailed. 



But the siren has, of course, some vocal power ? 



As if to make the mockery complete, this siren was 

 said to have the voice of a duck ; but even this has been 

 denied. The captive siren of the Regent's Park was 

 never heard to utter any sound. 



This is no place for anatomical or physiological detail, 

 or much might be said relative to this most curious 

 form. Those who feel interested will be rewarded for 

 referring to John Hunter, Cuvier, and Owen. The last- 

 named distinguished comparative anatomist has recorded 

 some most valuable observations on the blood-discs of 



* ^neid, v. 684. These rocks are understood to have been 

 the island of Capreae, the retreat of the tiger-like Tiberius, who, 

 it is said, could see like a cat in the dark. 



