126 



jNATURAL history of VERMONT. 



Part J. 



THK PROTEUS. 



THE PROTEUS. 



neath whitish or yellowish ; anterior toes 

 4. posterior 5. Length 3 inches. — Green. 

 'Historv. This salamander I have not 

 seen in Vermont, but Prof. Adams in- 

 forms nie that he has a Vermont specimen 

 which belongs to this species. According- 

 to Dr. Green it inhabits shallow waters, 

 appears early in spring, and is very active. 



Genus Mesobranchus. — Harlan. 



Generic Characters. — Head large, flattened, 

 truncate, two rows of teelh in the upper jaw, a 

 single row in the lower ,• teelh small, conical, 

 pointed ; gills and tail persistent during lifi:. 



THE PROTEUS. 



Menohranchus maculutus. — Barnes. 



Description. — General color dark cin- 

 ereous Tra}', produced by minute yellow- 

 ish specks on a dark bluish ground, and ir- 

 regularly interspersed with circular spots 

 about the size of a pea, of a darker hue ; 

 the throat and central parts of the abdo- 

 men nearly white ; a brownish stripe 

 commencing at the nose and e.xtending 

 backwards over the eye ; the margin of 

 ■the tail often of an orange tinge, with 

 blackish blotches near the extremity. 

 The head is large, flattened, and the 

 snout truncated ; eyes small and far apart; 

 mouth large ; throat contracted with a 

 transverse fold in the cuticle beneatli ; 

 tono-ue large and fleshy ; teeth small and 

 Bharp,two rows in the upper jaw and one 

 in the lower. The gills are e.xternal, 

 laro-e, and eacii consists of three delicate- 

 ly tufted or fringed lobes, which, when 

 vibrating in the water, are of a fine blood- 

 red color ; body cj'lindrical, covered with 

 a smooth mucous skin ; tail long, flat- 

 tened and broad vertically, and rounded 

 at the end like that of an eel ; legs four, 

 each foot furnished with four toes resem- 

 blino- finders, but without nails, although 

 the cuticle at the extremities is dark col- 

 ored, having much the appearance of 

 Bails. The total length of tiie specimen 

 before me, and from which the above 

 figure and description are made, is \2\ 

 inches, and this is about the usual length. 



History. — This singular reptile was 

 first described by Schnei(Jer, about the 

 year 1793, from a specimen obtained from 



lake Champlain.* This specimen was 

 probably obtained at Winooski falls, 

 which were, for some time, the only 

 known locality of this animal, and where 

 more or less of them are now taken every 

 spring, upon the hooks suspended on 

 night lines for taking fishes. The fisher- 

 men formerly considered them poisonous, 

 and when they found them upon their 

 lines they were glad to rid themselves of 

 them by cutting the lines and letting 

 them go with the hook in their mouths; 

 but they are now found to be perfectly 

 harmless and inoffensive. This animal is 

 seldom seen excepting in the months of 

 April and May, and this is the season for 

 depositing its eogs. In a specimen taken 

 on the ]:3th of April, 1840, I found about 

 150 eo-gs of the size of a small pea and, 

 apparently just ready to be extruded. The 

 food of this reptile consists of various 

 kinds of worms and insects. The stom- 

 ach of the one above mentioned contained 

 two hemipterous insects, each three 

 fourths of an inch long, the wings and 

 bodies of which were entire, besides nu- 

 merous fragments of other insects. Of 

 the habits of this animal very little is 

 known. It seems to spend the greater 

 portion of the time about fills, concealed 

 in the inaccessible recesses and crevices 

 of the rocks below the surface of the wa- 

 ter, and not to venture much abroad ex- 

 cepting at the season for depositing its 

 eggs. Although it passes nearly the 

 whole time in water, it is truly an amphi- 

 bious animal, having lungs for breathing 

 in the atmosphere, as well as branchiae 

 for breathing in water. It does not, how- 

 ever, breathe in water by receiving the 

 water into its mouth and passing it out 

 through the gills, in the manner of fishes, 

 but simply by the vibrations of its bran- 

 chiae in the water. When kept in a ves- 

 sel containing a large quantity of water, 

 or in which the water is frequently re- 

 newed, it manifests but little disposition 

 to rise to the surface for atmospheric air. 

 But when the quantity of water is small, 



* 'J'he fulliiwiii? is Scliiieiilcr'3 (iescrijition, and 

 our rcplili; answers to it in almost every particular. 



Cm pus ultra y pollices longum et fere polliccm, 

 crassum, luolle, spongiosum, multis poris pervium, 

 in utrofjue latere Irilms macularum rotumlarum, ni- 

 grarum seriehus variegitum ; Cauda compressa et 

 aiicpps, utriiKjue maculata, inferiors acie recta, su- 

 periore curvata, in linem teretiusculum terminatur. 

 1,'aput latum et planum : oculi parvi, nares anteri 

 ores in margino labii superioris, ma-xilla; superioris 

 geniiiue ut inferioris denies conici, oblusi, satis lon- 

 gi ; lingua lata, iiitegra, anterius soluta : apprtura 

 oris patii uscjue ad oculorum lineam verticalcm ; la- 

 bia piscium labiis similia ; pcdos ilissiti quatuor, te- 

 tradactyli omnes, absque unguiculis ; ani rima in 

 longitudinem patet ; branchiae utrinque terna; e.\tus 

 priipendent, apposilae superne totideni arcubus car- 

 lilagincis, quorum latus internum lubercula cartila- 

 ginea, velut in piscium genere, exasperant. &c. 



