A new species of Siren. 53 



be pointed out. Many that are now anomalous will no longer 

 stand alone, but be collected into a group, as natural as any 

 of the artificial divisions at present received by all. 



I call our new animal the Siren striata.* (PI. IV.) 



Cabinet of the Lyceum. 



Its length varies from seven to nine inches, of which from three 

 to four inches are occupied by the tail ; legs two anterior, feet 

 three-toed, without claws ; colour dusk} 7 , with a broad brown 

 stripe on each side, and another rather paler one on each side of 

 the belly; beneath speckled with brownish white; tail compress- 

 ed, ancipital scarcely furnished with a fin, sides marked with 

 transverse furrows imitating ribs; spiracula three on each side, 

 furnished with a fleshy trilobate covering ; the lobes entire and 

 naked; teeth none. The body is covered with a thick mucus like 

 the Siren lacertina, but unlike that animal, it has no disagree- 

 able smell. It inhabits in the mud of overflowed places in 

 swamps, and does not burrow in the ground. It is but rarely 

 met with, is perfectly mute, swims with tolerable agility in the 

 water, but can make little if any progress on the ground ; 

 and when once dried by exposure to the air, loses its life. An 

 examination of the stomach has never afforded me any satisfac- 

 tion with regard to its food ; and indeed in the Siren lacer* 

 Una I have never found that organ to contain any thing but 

 mud. The internal anatomy, as far as examined, presents no- 

 thing different from the other species. 



It will be observed that the coverings of the spiracula in this 

 are not fringed as in the lacertina ; they therefore cannot be 

 used for the same purpose as those are said to be, that is to 

 say, they do not perform the office of gills. In those animals 

 that are furnished with spiracula as well as nostrils, we always 

 fmd the former furnished on the edge with a contractile skin, 

 by means of which those orifices are diminished or enlarged at 

 will, whenever they are made use of. It is reasonable to con- 

 clude, that both species of Siren make use of these appendages 

 for the same purpose. Under what circumstances, however, 

 they are used, I am not prepared to say, as in the mam 



