A JANUARY DAY AT REGENTS PARK. 15 



nothing less than fourteen or fifteen feet long, and 

 hoping that the bars are strong enough to prevent it 

 breaking from prison. Great, therefore, is their dis- 

 appointment on being shown a glass tank of water 

 such as they see in any naturalist's window, and are 

 referred to a creature like a big black tadpole which 

 lies grovelling quietly in one corner. Some decline to 

 believe that the animal is the dreadful creature which 

 they have been led to expect, and others openly aver 

 that the whole affair is a delusion, and akin to Barnum's 

 mermaid. Yet the beast is a wonderful beast after all, 

 and in the eyes of naturalists is a very gigantic sala- 

 mander. For, in sooth, the eft or newt is a salamander, 

 and an eft of thirty inches in length is gigantic beyond 

 doubt. Besides, it is very rare even in Japan, whence 

 it comes, and its habits and general economy are very 

 remarkable* 



Nearly opposite to this salamander is a creature of 

 unpretending form and dimensions, but still more 

 curious in its structure and habits than even its black, 

 flat-headed neighbour : this is the lepidosiren or mud- 

 fish of Africa, remarkable for having long been an 

 object of contention among naturalists. Is it a fish or 

 is it one of the frog tribe ? No one exactly knows, and, 

 to judge from the opposite opinions expressed by the 

 most accomplished naturalists and dissectors, no one is 

 likely to know. Perhaps it is neither, but represents 

 an intermediate class between the fish and the reptiles, 

 with the heart of one and the gills of the other. This 



