Proteus, Sec] 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



135 



The reading: of Professor Owen's last memoir was 

 Rccompanied by the exhibition of a diagram repre- 

 sentinsr ajestorationoftwo species of Labyrinthodon, 

 one of which, L. Pachysrnatluis, is copied on a greatly 

 reduced scale ; Fisrs. iSSG and 2357. The bones 

 which appear within the outline ars those which 

 were known when the paper was read. The animal 

 is represented as impressing its footsteps on a shore 

 of sand, now new red sandstone. There is reason 

 for believing: that this formidable batrachian was 

 not smooth externally, but that it was protected 

 on certain parts at least by bony plates. Specimens 

 of the footprints may be seen both in the British 

 ?.Iusenm and in the Museum of the Royal College 

 of Surgeons, London. 



Family AMPHIUMID.'E (AMPHIUMA). 



2358. — The Three-toed AmphUjMa 



{Amphivmn trirncti/him). Two species of Am- 

 phiuma onlv are Unown : they inhal)it the sfairnant 

 pools and ditches of Louisiana, Georgia. Florida, 

 and South Carolina, and great numbers are often 

 found in clearing out ponds, buried deep in the mud 

 at the bottom. 



In these Amphibia, as in Menopoma, no bran- 

 chioj have been found, but an orifice exists in each 

 side of the neck, demonstrating their existence at 

 some previous period. The body is extremely long, 

 and covered with a smooth skin, which, together 

 with their general form, gives them an eel-like 

 appearance ; the limbs are four in number, but 

 extremely minute; in one species the toes on each 

 Jimb are three in number, in the other only two; 

 they are little jointless divisions. There are no 

 ribs, and the vertebrae resemble in their structure 

 those of fishes ; the eyes are very small ; there are 

 two longitudinal ranges of palatal teeth. These 

 animals are essentially formed for the water, where 

 they obtain their prey; on the approach of winter 

 they bury themselves in the mud and there hybernate, 

 occasionally however they creep on land, and 

 burrow in spongy places, or under decaying logs, or 

 fallen trunks of trees in swamps and marshes. Dr. 

 Harlan, speaking of the small two-toed species, says, 

 '■ I am informed by Major Wace, that they are some- 

 times discovered two or three feet under mud of the 

 consistence of mortar, in which they burrow like 

 worms, as was instanced in digging near a street in 

 Pensacola, where great numbers were thrown up 

 during the winter season. It is called in Florida 

 the Congo snake by the negroes, who believe it to 

 be poiscmous, but without foundation. 



The three-toed ampbiuma attains the length of 

 three feet ; the two-toed is only about eighteen 

 inches long. 



We may now pass to the Perennibranchiate 

 Amphibia, in which while the lungs are developed 

 the branchiae remain, whence the animals are ca- 

 pable of respiring both air and water. 



Family PROTEID^ (PROTEUS, AXOLOTL, &c.). 



2353, 2360.— The Proteus 



(Profeits anguinus, Lawr.). Hypochton anguinus, 

 jVIerrem. 



This curious animal, interesting alike from its 

 structure and extraordinary abode, has greatlv ex- 

 cited the attention of scientific men, who have 

 diligently investigated its structure. We may de- 

 scribe it as a slender, elongated reptile, with a smooth 

 and delicate skin, with a compressed tail, with a de- 

 pressed head, and with four short feeble and almost 

 useless limbs. The mouth is wide, and the jaws are 

 armed with teeth ; the eyes are mere rudimentary 

 points covered by the skin ; the fore-limbs are fur- 

 nished with three toes, the hind-limbs with two. The 

 branchiae or gills are exposed, and form two pink 

 tufis, one on each side of the occiput. The move- 

 ments of the animal are eel-like. Deep under ground, 

 in subterranean waters, where no ray of light ever 

 penetrates, does the Proteus dwell ; light, indeed, is 

 toogreat a stimulus for the creature to bear: we have 

 hail opportunities of observing these singular ani- 

 mals in confinement, and always noticed, tliat they 

 shrouded themselves in the darkest part of the 

 vessel in which they were placed, when the covering 

 ■ was taken off in order to inspect them: and that 

 they tietrayed a sense of unea.siness l)y their actions, 

 when exposed to the light of open day, creeping 

 round the sides of tlie vessel, or under the shelter 

 of any substance which threw a partial shadow on 

 the water. Their colour was that of pale flesh ; 

 but alter a short exposure to light, the skin assumed 

 a darker tint, and the branchial lulls became of a 

 deeper red. 



Though these animals lived many months, and 

 were healthy and vigorous, they were not supplied 



with any food, nor know we on what they subsist, 

 though we have every reason to believe them car- 

 nivorous. 



It is trom two or perhaps three localities only that 

 the Proteus has been obtained. At Adclshurg, lutlie 

 duchy of Carniola, belonging to Austria, there is one 

 of the most extraordinary caverns in Europe, ex- 

 tending many hundred feet below the surl'ace, 

 termed the Grotto of the Maddiilena. The district 

 around this cavern consists of bold rocks and moun- 

 tains of liinestone Ibrmation. Beneath these, at an 

 enormous depth, are subterranean cavities, and im- 

 mense reservoirs of water, buried lakes, whence 

 many rivr^rs take (heir secret origin ; and it is from 

 this vast reservoir that a small lake in the grotto of 

 Maddalena is supplied, a lake in pitchy darkness, 

 on which no sunbeam ever plays, enclosed by awful 

 masses of rock, with ril'ts and chasms on every 

 side, and above a canopy of drooping stalactites. 

 On the soft nuid below the w.-.tei of this little lake, 

 these singular creatures may be seen moving like 

 small eels, endeavouring to tscape the unnatural 

 glare of torch-light. Jt is not here, however, that 

 the Protei are bred, nor are they always to be 

 found, and it is only alter great rains th:-it they are 

 abundant. Besides this cavern at Adelsburg, where 

 they were first discovered by the late Uarou Ziiis, they 

 have been found, though rarely, at Sitiich, thiity 

 miles distant, thrown up by water from a subter- 

 ranean cavity, and Sn- II. Davy says : " I have lately 

 heard it reported that some individuals of the same 

 species have been recognised in the calcareous strala 

 of Sicily." With regaid to their original abode, we 

 agree with the same eminent writer ; his words are, 

 "I think it cannot be doubted that their natural 

 residence is in an extensive deep subterranean lake, 

 from which in great floods they are sometimes forced 

 through the crevices of the rocks into this place 

 where they are found ; and it does not appear to me 

 impossible, when the peculiar nature of tiie country 

 is considered, that the same great cavity may furnish 

 the individuals which have been found at Adelsburg 

 and at Sittich." 



Many have entertained the idea that these ani- 

 mals are tadpoles, or the larvae of some unknown 

 creature ir.habiting the subterranean waters ; this 

 idea is, however, sufficiently proved to be incorrect : 

 they are perfect animals with gills and lungs. "This 

 animal is, 1 dare say, much larger than we now see it, 

 when mature in its native place, but its comparative 

 anatomy is exceedingly hostile to the idea that it is 

 an animal in a state of transition. It has been 

 found of various sizes, from the thickness of a quill 

 to that of the thumb, but its form of organs has been 

 always the same. And it adds one instance more 

 to the numbers already known of the wonderful 

 manner in which life is produced and perpetuated 

 in every part of our globe, even in places which 

 seem the least suited to organized existences." 



Referring to Fig. 2359, a represents the Skull, 

 half the natural size; b, the bones of the Fore-foot. 

 Fig. 2361 represents the Skull of the Proteus and 

 three first vertebrae — «, as seen from below ; b, as 

 seen from above. Fig. '23C2 represents the Skeleton 

 of the Proteus — a, the Bones of the Fore-foot ; h, the 

 Bones of the Hind-leg. 



23G3. — The Striated Siren 



(SiVra striata). 



The Sirens are eel-like animals utterly destitute 

 of hinder limbs, and the fore-limbs are reduced to 

 small feeble rudiments, with four or three toes. 

 There are three plumed gill-tufts on each side ; the 

 head is small and flattened, the muzzle blunt; the 

 eye is minute. There are ranges of teeth on the 

 palate; the lower jaw is furnished with teeth, but 

 not the upper. The vertebrae, which are very pe- 

 culiar in form, have their articular faces hollow and 

 united by cartilages, in the form of a double cone, as 

 in fishes. 



F"ig. 2364 represents the Skeleton of Siren la- 

 certina. Fig. 2365 the Head and Fore-limb — a, one 

 of the dorsal vertebrae seen behind ; o, the same seen 

 before. 



Of these animals, three species appear to be 

 known, viz. : Siren lacertina, S. intermedia, and S. 

 striata. The Lacertine Siren grows to the length 

 of three feet, and has lour toes on each foot. It in- 

 habits the marshy grounds of Carolina, especially 

 tliose where rice is cultivated, and lives in ttie mud, 

 or muddy water, and occasionally crawls on the 

 dry ground. Worms and insects are its food, but 

 Dr. Garden, who discovered it in 1765, and sent a 

 specimen to Linnaeus, asserts that it will devour 

 snakes, and also state's tluit it utters a sound like 

 the voice of a young duck ; both these points, how- 

 ever, are denied by Barton ; its colour is blackish. 



In 1841, a lively specimen was living in the 



Zoological Gardens. It was kept in a vessel ot 

 pond-water, with a deep bottom of mud, in which 

 it buried itself; it fed upon earth-worms, devouiing 

 a dozen and a half every other day. It was about 

 twenty inches long, and very eel-like in all its move- 

 ments. 



The Siren striata is a small species, about nine 

 inches long, with three toes only on each foot. It 

 is ol'ablackish colour, with two longitudinal vellow 

 stri|iesdown each side. At F"ig. 2363, a shows the 

 Head, Branchiie, and Fore-foot." 



According to the testimony of various microsco- 

 pic observers (Professors Wagner, Van der Hoeven, 

 Owen, &c.), the magnitude of the blood globules 

 in the perennibranchiate amphibia is very extra- 

 ordinary. In the Proteus, indeed, they "may be 

 observed by the naked eye ; in the Siren, as ob- 

 served by Professor Owen, they are also very large, 

 forming a great contrast to those of liigher rejitilcs, 

 birds, and mammalia. Fig. 2366 shows a compari- 

 son, by Professor Oweu, ot the blood-discs of Man 

 and the Siren, drawn by the Camera lucida under a 

 magnifying power of seven hundred linear dimen- 

 sions, a, Human Blood-discs ; (/. the same viewed 

 edgewise : b, Siren's Blood-discs ; //, the same viewed 

 edgewise : c. Folds of External Capsule, produced 

 by desiccation ; d, Capsule of Nucleus j e, Nu- 

 cleoli. 



2367.— The Necturus 



(JVectums lateralis, Rafinesque). Menobranchiis 

 lateralis, Harlan ; Phaiierobranchus lateralis, Kilzin. 



In the genus Necturus (Menobranchus, Harlan) 

 the body is modera'ely elongated, the tail flattened 

 at the sides, the branchial plumes large ; there is a 

 row of palatal teeth, and a parallel biit more ex- 

 tensive row of maxillary teeth. The limbs are four 

 in number, very small, with four toes each. 



I'he Necturus lateralis inhabits the great lakes 

 of North America, and attains to the length of two 

 or three feet. Its general colour above is olive with 

 blackish dots; a line along the muzzle blackish; 

 under-parts blackish, variegated with spots of olive. 

 Of its habits little is known. 



2368, 236D.— The Axolotl 



(Siredon pisciformis, Wagler). Siren pisciformis, 

 Shaw; Gyrinus edulis, Hernandez; Menobranchus 

 pisciformis, Harlan. 



This fish-like amphibian is remarkable for the 

 three long fringed processes on each side of the 

 neck, forming conspicuous gill-tuits. The limbs 

 are four; the anterior are furnished with lour toes, 

 the hinder with five; there are teeth in both jaws 

 as well as palatal teeth, aggregated in numeious 

 rows, and rasp-like, as in certain fishes ; the tail is 

 compressed at the sides like that of a water-newt, 

 and furnished above and below by a membianous 

 fin ; the muzzle is blunt, and the eyes are small. 



Referring to Fig. 2369, the sketch accompanying 

 the figure represents the Under Jaw and Throat of 

 the animal as seen from beneath, in order to show 

 the singular form of the gills. At Fig. 2368— a re- 

 presents the Mouth open, and viewed in front, to 

 show the teeth. 



The Axolotl is a native of Mexico, and common 

 in the lake surrounding the city of that name; and 

 according to Baron Humboldt is also found in cold 

 \vaters of mountain lakes at a much greater eleva- 

 tion above the level of the sea than the plain in 

 which the city of Mexico is situated. Tliis animal 

 is commonly sold in the markets of that city, and 

 is esteemed a luxury by the inhabitants ; it is dressed 

 alter the manner of stewed eels, and served up with 

 a rich sauce. Hernandez says that it is agreeable 

 and v\'holesome. For a long time the Axolotl was 

 regarded as the tadpole or larva of some unknown 

 batrachian, and was so regarded by Cuvier, till he 

 prepared the last edition of his ' Rcgne Animal,' 

 and even there he seems to retain a degree of 

 doubt respecting it. His words in a note are, "Ce 

 n'est encore qu'avec doute que je place I'Axolotl 

 parmi les genres a branchies pernianentes ; mar. 

 tant de temoins assurent qu'il ne les peid pas, que 

 je ray vols obligfi." 



Repeated observations, however, have fully es- 

 tablished the fact that the Axolotl is truly a perenni- 

 branchiate amphibian : Humboldt, in his ' Observa- 

 tions de Zoologie,' has entered into minute details 

 of its anatomy. 



The length of the Axolotl is eight or ten inches : 

 the general colour is uniform deep greyish brown, 

 everywhere thickly mottled with small round black 

 spots. The communicalions which open from the 

 gills into the mouth are four in number and of a 

 size considerably larger than in the allied genera. 

 They are covered externally by a species of oper- 

 culum formed by a fold in the skin of the head. 



END OF THE CLASS REPTILES. 



