- 
66 Dr. Mitchill on the Proteus of Lake Erie. 
numerous ; of which fewhave been described. They have 
been distributed under several heads; such as, 1. those 
having the toes of the. hind feet intirely free and without 
membranes; 2. those having the toes furnished with sepa- 
rate or lobed membranes; and 3. such as have all the toes 
united by a single membrane, or are palmated.” 
he very animal before me, which has prompted this in- 
quiry, has been called a Salamander. 'The late Professor 
.S.. Barton, mentions him distinctly, in the second volume 
p- 196 of his Medical and Physical Journal, published about 
the year 1806, asa Salamander. As ,the species of this 
genus are small reptiles, seldom exceeding five or six inch- 
es in length, he proposed to call him Salamandra maxima, 
or 5. g:gantea, the huge or gigantic S.; or from the dread 
entertained of him by the fishermen, S. Horrida. . Cuvier 
has placed him accordingly, on this authority, among the 
Teno or Water Salamanders, in his Regne Animal, vol. 
, p- 101. ; 
The character given of Salamanders by this eminent 
naturalist, is ‘that they have a lengthened body, four feet 
and along tai!, giving them the general form of lizards; on 
which account aaa left them in that genus. But they, 
have all the characters of Batracians. Their head is flat- 
the water. The fore feet are evolved sooner than the hinder. 
+e toes grow on the one and on the other in succession.” 
