92 AMPHIUMA MEANS. 
~ 
of Linneeus with other Naturalists,” in which is contained the letter of Garden 
describing the Amphiuma means. 
The next account, so far as I know, of our animal, may be seen in the work 
of Rusconi, an Italian naturalist, “Amours des Salamandres Aquatiques,” and is 
but an extract of a letter from Dr. Pockels, of Brunswick. Pockels observed it 
in the Hunterian Museum, and supposed it to be the Siren lacertina in its perfect 
state,* and as such sent a description and drawing of it to Rusconi, which agree 
perfectly with the Amphiuma means, and not at all with the Siren lacertina. It 
must be remembered, that most naturalists of that period, considered the Siren 
lacertina as the larva of some large and unknown Salamander. 
Dr. Harlan, in the third volume of the Journal of the Academy of Natural 
Sciences of Philadelphia, published some interesting remarks on the anatomy of 
the Amphiuma means, and says that he never saw the slightest appearance of 
gills even in specimens that did not exceed three inches in length. 
To Cuvier we are, however, indebted for the best account of the anatomy of 
this animal, and he clearly proves that it cannot be the Siren lacertina in any 
stage of development whatever, its organization is so entirely dissimilar. 
The Amphiuma means is known to the negroes with us under the name of 
Congo Snake, and is regarded, without the slightest appearance of truth, as 
exceedingly venomous. 
* Pai découvert un fait selon moi tres-intéressant; j’ai vu dans le Muséum Hunterien une 
Siréne lacertina avec les rudiments des pieds de derriere, &c. &c. Rusconi, loc. cit., p. 11. 
