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tural demonstration is completely borne out by the 

 physiological fact that the siren breeds while the gills 

 on it are perfect, and in no one instance has one 

 individual been seen in which there was the slightest 

 symptom of decay in the gills. The capacity of 

 breeding is the most complete evidence that we can 

 have of a perfect animal ; and in the whole of the 

 animals that undergo transformations, whether they 

 pass from the water to the air as their element or 

 not, there is not one which has the faculty of breed- 

 ing until it has gone through its last and completing 

 change. From this it is obvious that, physiologi- 

 cally considered, the siren is a complete and perfect 

 animal ; and what more than this could it become by 

 any subsequent transformation that it could possibly 

 undergo ? 



That both systems of respiratory organs are per- 

 fect in the siren has been proved by observation. 

 The gills are as complete in all their parts as if the 

 animal were a fish, and never could breathe but 

 through the medium of water ; and the lungs are also 

 perfect, with an abundant ramification of blood- 

 vessels. Either system can therefore be used as 

 occasion requires, and this is not the case with any 

 other known species of vertebrated animals. A siren 

 must not, therefore, be confounded with any kind of 

 tadpole ; for, whatever may be the external appear- 

 ance of these, they never have the two modes of 

 respiration perfect at the same time. That the tad- 

 pole must pass from the state of a breather by gills to 

 that of a breather by lungs, is quite evident ; but the 

 transition is one of those momentary mysteries that 

 we can never hope) to understand,^but must satisfy 

 ourselves with a simple statement of the fact. 



Among vertebrated animals the sirens thus stand 

 alone as the most peculiar of the whole in their vital 

 system ; and from this we may be prepared to find 

 them inhabiting a singular part of the country, or 

 rather of the world. Such is the fact. They are 

 found chiefly in the warmer and more southerly parts 

 of the United States, where much of the surface is 

 covered with marshes, but marshes which are in a 

 great measure seasonal, covered with water at one 

 period of the year, and as dry as dust at another. 

 While they are humid the sirens have the habit of 

 fishes, and when they are dry these animals breathe 

 air ; and thus they can pass the whole year in situa- 

 tions where no other animal can. They live upon 

 worms and small mollusca, larvae, and other minute 

 animal matters. There are three species, but there 

 is not much of interest in them beyond that double 

 power of breathing to which allusion has been made ; 

 and therefore a very brief notice of them will suffice 

 for our purpose. 



THE LARGER SIREN (S. lacertina). The name 

 lacertina is inaccurate, as it implies that the animal 

 bears a resemblance to the saurian reptiles, when in 

 reality it does not; and there is really nothing lizard- 

 like in its appearance. It grows to the length of 

 three feet, is generally of a black colour, has four 

 toes on each of the fore feet, and the tail compressed, 

 with the fin blunt. When in the water it swims by 

 lateral flexure of the tail, in the manner of a fish, and 

 not by vertical motions, as in the air-breathing 

 animals that find their food in the water. It is very 

 common in the marshy parts of Carolina, especially 

 the rich grounds that are cultivated for rice, and 

 which are of course laid under water at certain 

 periods of the year. Such places abound much in 



worms, and these constitute the chief food of the 

 siren. It is a dull and sluggish animal, not very 

 agreeable to the sight, and crawls and pokes about in 

 the sludge, which appears to be much better suited to 

 it than either the dry land or the free water. Here 

 we firid one of those remarkable coincidences of 

 animal and place which are so demonstrative of 

 design in the whole system of nature. The proper 

 locality of the siren is neither water nor land, but both 

 by turns, and the animal is organised for both of 

 them as they may happen to present themselves in 

 turn. 



The other two known species are, 

 THE INTERMEDIATE SIREN, of the same colour and 

 form as the above, but with the gill-tufts less deve- 

 loped, and the whole length of the animal only about 

 a foot ; and 



THE STRIPED SIREN, which has two lines of yellow 

 along the whole of each side, the gill-tufts still less 

 developed, only three toes upon each of the feet, and 

 not above nine inches in length. These are perfect 

 animals as well as the larger one, and their gills are 

 a perfect breathing apparatus, though less perfect than 

 in the large one. It is probable that there are, in 

 the obscure haunts of these animals, many species yet 

 to be discovered. 



SIRICID^E (Leach). A family of hymenopterous 

 insects, belonging to the section Terebrantia secu- 

 rifera, and having the abdomen united to the thorax 

 by its whole breadth ; the mandibles short and thick ; 

 the labrum entire ; the ovipositor of the females 

 generally exserted, composed of two external sheaths, 

 inclosing a horny, elongated, and pointed dart ; the 

 antennae are filiform or setaceous, and composed of 

 from ten to twenty-five joints ; the body generally 

 cylindrical. The family comprises the genus Sirex 

 of Linnaeus ( Urocerus\GeoJfroy}, from which the genus 

 Tremex of Jurine has been separated, and ORYSSUS 

 (which see). The typical genus Sirex has the an- 

 tennae frontal, from thirteen to twenty-five-jointed, 

 the maxillary palpi very minute, the wings with three 

 sub-marginal cells, and the abdomen produced into 

 an acute point. 



These insects, which are of considerable size in 

 general, inhabit the pine and fir forests of cold and 

 mountainous countries, to which they are occasionally 

 injurious, the females depositing their eggs, by the 

 assistance of their long ovipositor, in the substance of 

 the wood, and the larva) eating into the solid sub- 

 stance of the trees, forming cylindrical burrows. 



In certain years these insects appear in great 

 numbers, so as to occasion alarm amongst the igno- 

 rant and superstitious. During flight they make a 

 loud buzzing rioisc like humble bees. It is not an 

 uncommon circumstance for them to make their 

 appearance in the winged state in newly-built houses, 

 having been brought in the deals of which the floors, 

 &c., have been made, in too new a state, whilst they 

 were still larvs or pupae, occasioning alarm from 

 their slight resemblance to hornets. The larva? have 

 six very short legs, and the extremity of the body is 

 armed with an acute horny point ; it forms a cocoon 

 in its burrow, in which it undergoes its metamor- 

 phoses. The Count Saint Fargeau, in the Encyclo- 

 pedic Methodique, and his recent work on the 

 Hymenoptera (Suites a Butfbn), has considered this 

 tribe of insects as parasites, but he is certainly mis- 

 taken, as we have abundant proof to the contrary. 

 The species are not numerous, the type being the 



