LEPIDOSIEEN ANNECTANS. 671 



been met with : one, the Lepidosiren paradoxa, discovered by Dr. Nat- 

 terer in the river Amazon ; the other, Lepidosiren annectans, was found 

 by T. C. B. Weir, Esq., and is a native of the African continent, inhabit- 

 ing the river Gambia. An individual of the species last mentioned has 

 been minutely anatomized by Professor Owen*, and both in its outward 



Fig. 328 



Lepidosiren annectans. 



form and internal organization is so precisely intermediate between a 

 Reptile and a Fish, that, while Dr. Natterer regards it as an Amphibian, 

 Professor Owen considers that, notwithstanding that it possesses lungs, 

 the ichthyic characters predominate, and it ought rather to be ranked 

 among the Fishes. 



(1862.) The body of the Lepidosiren annectans (fig. 328) is about 

 a foot long, and covered with scales, resembling those of the cycloid 

 fishes ; the tail gradually tapers to a point, but is fringed above and 

 below with a membranous fin supported by numerous soft, elastic, trans- 

 parent rays, articulated to the superior and inferior spines of the caudal 

 vertebraB ; the gills are covered by opercula not being exposed, as in 

 the proper Amphibia ; and, moreover, it has four rudimentary fins or 

 legs, as the reader may choose to call them. These rudimental extre- 

 mities are round, filiform, and gradually attenuated to an undivided 

 point, being supported internally by a single-jointed soft or cartilaginous 

 ray. The nostrils of the Lepidosiren, however, are merely two blind 

 sacs, as in fishes, and do not communicate with the mouth or fauces a 

 character which Professor Owen regards as the only decided evidence 

 that the animal ought in preference to be ranked among the class Pisces. 



(1863.) The Siren lacertina, a creature which inhabits the marshes of 

 Carolina, is another amphibious animal, scarcely further removed from 

 the Fishes than the last. This Siren attains the length of two or three 

 feet ; it has a body very nearly resembling that of an eel ; but instead 

 of pectoral fins it has two rudimentary feet, each provided with four 

 fingers, its hind feet, the representatives of the ventral fins, being 

 entirely wanting ; it is moreover furnished with gills placed on each 

 side of the neck, while internally it possesses two capacious membra- 

 nous lungs adapted to aerial respiration. 



(1864.) In the Proteus anguinus, an animal only met with in the 

 subterranean waters of Carniola, the body, of which a figure is given 

 * Transactions of the Linnean Society for 1840. 



