326 Dr. Harlan's Dissection of a Batrachian Animal 



mamillaries, and another on the palatine surface, consisting of 

 about forty in number ; they point backwards, are very mi- 

 nute, the tips reflect the golden rays, provided they be viewed 

 through the medium of a microscope, they are not processes 

 of the jaws, but are attached to the bones at their bases by a 

 slightly moveable articulation, somewhat similar to the teeth 

 of the shark : that is to say, neither by gomphosis or anchy- 

 losis. 



On the top of the head are the orifices of two rows of 

 glands (fig. D. «.), extending from the eyes to the tip of the 

 nose : the eyes are covered with cuticle as in the Siren and 

 Proteus (fig. D. y.) 



The tail is short, round at its base, and flattened vertically 

 towards the extremity. 



There are no ribs, except the motionless rudiments, resem- 

 bling in this respect the Proteus anguinus, and differing from 

 the Siren and the Tritons, which have moveable rudiments of 

 ribs. 



The tongue is cartilaginous, possessed of very little free- 

 dom of motion. In the appearance of the circulating system, 

 the alimentary canal, the cellular lungs, and the urinary organs, 

 this animal presents no material difference from the Siren. 



The testicles are flat in this animal and cylindrical in the 

 Siren. The parts about the region of the cloaca being some-, 

 what mutilated, I was unable to determine exactly where the 

 ureters entered the bladder. 



This animal cannot be considered, strictly speaking, as 

 amphibious (breathing in air or water), not being furnished 

 with branchiae, and is not calculated for progression upon land. 

 Indeed the most remarkable peculiarity in its organization is 

 its four boneless legs terminated by two toes, the external toe 

 being the longest (fig. K and F). 



Whatever may have been the case during the early settle- 

 ments of North and South Carolina, at present this animal is 

 certainly rare, as none of our museums contain a single speci- 

 men, nor was I aware that a specimen had ever been sent to 

 Europe, until I was informed by Dr. De Kay of New York 

 (after having finished this description) that a similar animal 

 had been noticed by Dr. Garden in Smith's " Correspondence 

 of Linnaeus," under the name of Amphiuma means, on referring 

 to which work I found that this animal had indeed been no- 

 ticed under that name*. 



It 

 * Extract from a letter of Dr. Alexander Garden to Mr. Ellis, dated 

 Charlcstown, May 15, 1773. 



" I have not as yet been able to procure another of the Amphiuma meant, 

 which he (Linnjcus) calls Sireni simile. This appeared to me to be a still 



more 



