and its Natural Affinities. 369 
the same time designated by the name Abranchus the genus 
which we now call Cryptobranchus*. As its name implies, the 
Menobranchus presents a character afforded also by the Proteus 
and Siren, viz. that of the persistence of the branchie. It has, 
in common with the Proteus, another character which distin- 
guishes it from the Siren, viz. the possession of four feet. It 
was on this account that Lacépéde, who, in 1807, published a 
description, accompanied by an indifferent figure, of a specimen 
of this species, thought proper to give it the name of Protée 
tétradactyle, adding, however, that in case it should turn out to 
be a larva destined to lose the branchie, it might be called 
Salamandre tétradactyle+. This creature has four toes on the 
hind feet, while the Salamanders have five; now, however, we 
know of some species of Salamanders which also have four toes 
on all the feet t. 
The origin of the specimen in the Paris Museum was uncer- 
tain: Lacépéde knew only that it had been received from a na- 
turalist of Bordeaux. However, the notice published by Lace- 
pede did not give the first description of this doubtful reptile. 
The learned naturalist J. G. Schneider had most certainly seen 
a specimen of the same species in the cabinet of Hellwig at 
Brunswick, which specimen the latter had received from North 
America (Lake Champlain). As the description given of this 
by Schneider is both’ concise and at the same time sufficiently 
explicit, it will perhaps be worth while to insert it entire, in a 
note §. 
* Annals of the New York Lyceum, i. p. 233. It had, however, been 
previously named Necturus by Rafinesque (Blainville, Journ. de Physique, 
tom. Ixxxvilil. p. 418). Those who would restore the earlier names of 
. genera should consequently adopt this name of Necturus, unless, indeed, 
they would prefer that of Sirena, which we find applied to the same rep- 
tile by this very Rafinesque, in 1818 (Amer. Monthly Mag. iv. p.41). I 
know this journal only through the citation of Mr. Spencer Baird (Journ. 
Acad. Nat. Se. of Philadelphia, 1849, i.). 
+ ‘‘Sur une espéce quadrupéde ovipare non encore décrite,” Annales du 
Muséum d’Hist. Nat. x. (1807) pp. 230-233, pl. 17. 
{ These species form the genera of aquatic Salamanders—Salamandrina, 
Fitzinger, and Hemidactylum, Tschudi, or Desmodactylus of Duméril and 
Bibron. See the ‘ Erpétologie générale,’ tome ix. pp. 68 & 117-120. 
§ This description dates from 1799, and seems to be the earliest notice 
we possess relative to the Menobranchus. ‘Corpus ultra 8 pollices 
longum et fere pollicem crassum, molle, spongiosum, multis poris pervium, 
in utroque latere tribus macularum rotundarum nigrarum seriebus varie- 
gatum ; cauda compressa et anceps, utrinque maculata, inferiore acie recta, 
superiore curvata, in finem teretiusculum terminatur. Caput latum et 
planum ; oculi parvi; nares anteriores in margine labii superioris ; maxilla 
superioris gemine ut inferioris dentes conici, obtusi, satis longi; lingua 
lata, integra, anterius soluta; apertura oris patet usque ad oculorum lineam 
verticalem ; labia piscium labiis similia, Pedes dissiti, quatuor, tetradactyli 
