40 



HERPETOLOGY. 



Hatrariwi 



TridctyU. 



dotted yellow below with a white streak ; edged be- 

 low with black dots ; nil the toes separate. 



L. S. ceinturee, Daud. viii. p. 259. 



14. S. tridactyla. Three-toed S. Tore feet three- 

 toed ; hind feet tour-toed. 



La S. tridactyte, Daud. viii. p. 261. Lacep. 



Lc Lizard tndactyle, Lacep. ii. part ii. art. 5y. 



GENUS V. PROTEUS. PROTEUS. 



Body elongated cylindrical, terminated by a com- 

 Genus. pressed tail forming a fin ; tongue short, thick, ad- 

 hering within the lower jaw ; fore feet furnished with 

 three toes, and the hinder with two ; all without claws ; 

 branchiae persistent. 



Anguinu*. Species. Proteus anguinus. Serpentine Proteus. Fore 

 feet three-toed ; hind feet two-toed. 



Le prote anguillard, Daud. viii. p. 266. pi. xcix. 

 fig. 1. 



Proteus anguinus, Laurent!, Synops. Reptil. p. 37- 

 pLli. fig.3. Scopoli, Annales Hist. Nat. vol. v. p. 70. 

 Linn, a Gmel. p. 1056, note. Hermann, Tab. Affini- 

 tat. Animal. Schneider, Hist. Amphib.fascic. i. p. 45. 

 Schreiber, Phil. Trans. 1801. 



The curious animal for which the present genus has 

 been constituted, was first observed at the bottom of a 

 lake in Carniola in Germany, and described in 1768, 

 by Laurenti, in the work referred to above. It was 

 afterwards described by Scopoli, and was briefly no- 

 ticed by Linnaeus in his Syslema Naturcc, who, how- 

 ever, considered it as the tadpole of a salamander ; but 

 the most complete account of the animal has been gi- 

 ven by Schreiber, a German naturalist, in a memoir of his 

 published in the Transactions of the Royal Society of, 

 London for 1801. From this account it is now gene- 

 rally allowed, that the Proteus is to be considered as a 

 perfect animal, differing from all the other reptiles with 

 which we are acquainted. 



Its general length is about thirteen inches by about 

 one inch of medium breadth, and the head is nearly 

 two inches long. It has no external nostrils ; and its 

 eyes, which are black, and situated towards the base of 

 the muzzle, are so small as with difficulty to be distin- 

 guished. The colour of the living animal is a flesh red, 

 and the gills are scarlet ; but when immersed in spirits 

 after death, it becomes white. It appears to walk with 

 difficulty, but swims with great ease. One that was 

 kept by Baron Zois, lived for about ten days, and du- 

 ring that time refused all nourishment, and appeared 

 in a torpid state. 



The Proteus undergoes three degrees of metamor- 

 phosis before arriving at its perfect state. In the two 

 former, it is blind and without feet. 



It is said on certain occasions to utter a sound re- 

 sembling that made by forcing down the piston of a 

 syringe. 



Two reptiles have lately been noticed by the French 

 naturalists, bearing a near relation to the Proteus above 

 described. One has been described by Cuvier under the 

 name of Axolote Mexicaine, and has four toes on each 

 fore foot, and five on each hinder. This we might call 

 Proteus mejcicanus. The other is described and figured 

 by Lacepede, in the tenth volume of the Annales de 

 Museum, p. ^30. pi. xvii. by the name of Protee tetra- 

 dactyle, (Proteus tetradactylus,') with four short pointed 

 toes on each of the four feet. It differs from the Pro- 

 teus auguinus in having a thicker and shorter body, a 

 much broader tail, and the legs larger and shorter. 



GENUS VI. SIREN. SIREN. 



Batraclan 

 Reptiles. 



Body elongated, cylindrical, and terminated by a SIBEX 

 compressed tail, forming a fin ; tongue short, thick, and (Jenus - 

 adherent ; fore feet digitated ; no hind feet ; branchiae 

 persistent. 



Species. Siren lacertina. Lacertine Siren. Feet Lacertins. 

 four-toed. 



La Siren lacerline, Daud. viii. p. 272. pi. xcix. fig. 2. 



Siren lacertina, Linn. Anuenit. Academ. vii. p. 311. 



Murcena siren, Linn, a Gmel. p. 1136. 



Siren lacertina, Shaw's Naturalist's Miscellany, N20, 

 pi. Ixi. Schneider, Hist. Amphib. fascic. i. pi. 48. 



The extraordinary reptile which constitutes this last 

 genus of Batracians was first observed in 1765, by Dr 

 Alexander Garden, in a fresh water lake near Charles- 

 town in Carolina, and was described by Linnaeus in the 

 Memoirs of the Academy of Upsal for that year. He 

 considered it either as the tadpole of a species of lizard 

 or salamander, or as a new genus of his order NANTES, 

 to which he gave the name of Siren. Soon after, Lin- 

 neaeus placed the Siren in the order of AMPHIBIA, which 

 he denominated MEANTES, from which Gmelin, in his 

 edition of the Syslema Naturce, injudiciously removed 

 it to the class of Fishes, and considered it as a species 

 of murcena. 



The Siren very much resembles an eel in the general 

 form of the body and tail. Its mouth is small, and fur- 

 nished with small sharp teeth, set partly in the palate, 

 and partly in the lower jaw. Its eyes are very small, 

 but more evident than those of the Proteus. Its skin 

 is of a blackish colour, slightly grained and porous, 

 with a longitudinal white line, extending on each side 

 from the feet to the tail, and a shorter one along the 

 middle of the back. The whole length of the animal 

 sometimes exceeds three feet ; and the feet, which are 

 small, and composed of a humerus, a fore arm, and four 

 small pointed toes, furnished with claws, are about an 

 inch long. 



Its tongue is bony, and formed like that of fishes ; 

 the gills are composed of three fimbriated plates on 

 each side, are very apparent, and are above half an inch 

 long. It has a real larynx, and its lungs resemble 

 those of salamanders. In its metamorphosis from the 

 ovum to the perfect state, it seems to follow the same 

 degrees with the Proteus, except that its eyes are sooner 

 open. 



This animal appears to reside entirely in the water, 

 where it must swim with great facility. It was sup- 

 posed by Linnaeus, from the form of its feet, that it 

 can also move with tolerable ease upon the land ; but we 

 believe it has never yet been seen in that situation. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATES. 



PLATE CCXCV. 



Fig. 1. Skeleton of a species of Tupinambis. 



Fig. 2. The head of the same animal, a, the inter- 

 maxillary bone ; b, b, the two superior, or coronal maxil- 

 lary bones ; c, the nasal bone ; d, one of the zygomatic 

 arches; e, a supernumerary bone; f,f, the two sides of 

 the frontal bone ; g, the parietal ; h, h, two bony arches 

 forming the interior border of the temporal fossa ; t, a 

 small portion of the left basilur jaw ; k, the bone with 

 which this is articulated ; /, /, the occipital bone ; TO, its 

 condyle. 

 1 



