PKOTEUS. REPTILES. 369 



S. gigantea, Barton. Body bluish black. 15 to 18 inches long. In- 

 habits lakes and rivers in North America. Cuv. Reg. An. ii. 101. 



The Axolotl of Mexico, the Siren pisciformis of Shaw, which was long considered 

 as the larva of a large species of Salamander, has persistent branchiae ; four feet, 

 with four toes before and five behind ; and the organs of generation have been found 

 in a developed state by Sir Everard Home, in specimens brought from Mexico by 

 Mr Bullock. 



Gen. 6. PUOTEUS, Laurenti. 



Body elongated, cylindrical; tail compressed; tongue short, thick, 

 and free only before ; eyes excessively small, arid concealed 

 by the skin ; fore feet with three toes ; hind feet with two, all 

 without claws ; interior lungs and persistent branchiae. 



P. anguinus, Laur. (Siren anguina, Schn.) Body smooth and whit- 

 ish ; tail compressed vertically ; branchiae bright red or carmine 

 coloured. About a foot long. Shaw, iii. pi. 139. 

 This species, the only one of the genus, is found in the subterranean streams by 

 which some lakes in Carniola communicate together. Besides lungs it has, like the 

 salamanders, three tufted branchiae on each side, which it appears to preserve through 

 life. The skeleton somewhat resembles that of the salamander, but the vertebras 

 are more numerous, and the general conformation of the head decidedly different. 



Gen. 7. SIREN, Lin. 



Body elongated, cylindrical, and terminated by a compressed 

 tail ; tongue short, thick and adherent ; only two feet, placed 

 forwards on the body, with each four toes ; interior lungs and 

 persistent branchiae. 



S. lacertina, Lin. The Siren. Body blackish, resembling that of 

 an eel. 2 to 3 feet long. Inhabits marshes of South Carolina. 

 Shaw, iii. pi. 138. 



This species, the only one of the genus, retains during life, as the Proteus, three 

 free branchial tufts on each side of the neck, at the same time with interior lungs. 

 The vertebrae are much more numerous than those of the salamanders, and of a 

 different form. The eyes are very small ; the ears concealed ; the inferior jaw armed 

 with teeth all around, and many rows on both sides of the palate. By a curious 

 mistake, Cuvier describes the feet as having five toes ; and Mr Gray in the Annals of 

 Philosophy, Vol. X. asserts the same. But in a live specimen which we have seen 

 there are only four, as mentioned by the older naturalists. It inhabits the marshes of 

 Carolina, and chiefly those formed for the culture of rice, feeds on insects, worms, &c. 



Dr Garden of Charleston, South Carolina, first sent specimens of what he justly 

 regarded as a very curious reptile, preserved in spirits, to Mr Ellis of London. The 

 Doctor remarked, that he had seen the reptile of all sizes, but all possessing gills, and 

 having only fore-feet ; and that there was no lizard in South Carolina of which it 

 could be regarded as the larva. Mr Ellis communicated one of the specimens to 

 Linnaeus, and that illustrious naturalist did not hesitate to pronounce it a perfect 

 animal, of the most truly amphibious character, and to create for it a new order, 

 Meantes, in his class Amphibia, giving it the generic name of Siren. A number of 

 distinguished naturalists, however, have disputed this opinion, as Camper, Pallas, and 

 Lacepede ; and have insisted that the Siren is only a larva. Within these few years 

 past, Configliachi and Rusconi in Italy, and Dr Fleming in our own country, have 

 published opinions to the same purpose. But Baron G. Cuvier, after dissecting the 

 animal, has given his verdict in favour of the opinion of Garden, Ellis, and Linnaeus, 

 that it is a perfect animal, destined through life to breathe either by external branchiae 

 or internal lungs, according to the situation it may for the time occupy in its native 

 marshes. 



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