96 MENOPOMA ALLEGHANIENSIS. 
thin, broad, flat, rounded in front, attached behind and below, free and movable 
only at its anterior and lateral margins. The superior maxillary teeth are 
arranged in two concentric series, of which the internal are most prominent, but 
are less numerous as they terminate before and on the outer side of the posterior 
nares. 
The nostrils are anterior and very small. The eyes are very minute and black. 
The neck is contracted, with a single spiracle or bronchial opening on each 
side, but there is no cutaneous fold at the throat. The body is stout, thick, sub- 
cylindrical, and the vent appears a circular orifice, with a plaited margin, unlike 
the longitudinal fissure of the Salamanders. The tail is large, much compressed 
laterally, broader below, with a rayless fin along its whole superior border, and is 
ancipital only for an inch or two from its tip. 
The anterior extremities are short, thick, and fimbriated throughout their whole 
external border; there are four fingers, short, flattened, without nails, and palmated 
at their roots. ‘The posterior extremities are also short, thick, and still more 
broadly fimbriated on their posterior border; there are five toes, palmated, the 
two internal have the web least extensive. 
Cotour. This animal I have never seen alive, but Dr. De Kay represents it as 
pale slate-colour, mottled with dusky; and from his plate was the accompanying 
figure coloured. 
Dimensions. Length of head, 14 inches; length of body, 9 inches; length of 
tail 43 inches: total length, 15 inches. 
Hasrrs. The Menopoma Alleghaniensis lives entirely in water. It is car- 
nivorous and very voracious, feeding on fish, worms, and shell-fish. 
GrocrapuicaL Distrisution. The Menopoma Alleghaniensis is found in the 
