THE MENOBRANCHUS 153 



toes, and the wonder is that such useless or "aberrant" ap- 

 pendages have not long since disappeared altogether. 



The color of the Eel-like Salamander is a uniform gray- 

 brown, and its length when adult is usually about 2 feet. 

 There is a gill-opening on each side of the neck, and there are 

 four internal gill-arches. There are no external gills. These 

 creatures inhabit the muddy streams and stagnant waters of 

 our southeastern states, and are in the habit of burying 

 themselves in the mud, sometimes to a surprising depth. 

 They feed upon every form of aquatic animal life which is 

 small enough to be seized and swallowed — insects, worms, 

 crustaceans, shell-fish, and even small fishes. In the South 

 they are occasionally found in the ditches which irrigate the 

 rice-fields. 



FREE-GILLED SALAMANDERS 



Proteidae 



This very small Family contains only three genera, with 

 but one species in each. One of these, the Olm 1 of Europe, 

 is recognizable at sight by its general eel-like appearance, its 

 tiny legs far apart (like the Congo "snake"), and the big 

 bunch of external gill-branches waving on each side of the 

 neck, close to the head. This animal is totally blind, and is 

 found only in the caverns of the Alps. 



The Mud-Puppy, or Menobranchus, 2 bears a strong 

 external resemblance to the hellbender, but is readily dis- 

 tinguished from the latter by the conspicuous mass of external 

 gill-branches with which the animal fans the water at every 



1 Pro'te-us an-guin'e-us. 2 Nec-tu'rus rnac-u-la'tus. 



