LEPIDOSIREXS AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE. 189 



three specimens were inclosed in a single lump of hard mud, weighing when dry about 

 twenty pounds. 



One of the cocoons is now lying before me, together with the dried and shrivelled 

 body of its former inhabitant, still curled up in the singular fashion already mentioned. 

 The walls of the cocoon are composed of a thick grayish clay, quite hard and dry, and 

 intermixed here and there with remnants of vegetable matter. The hollow in which the 

 Lepidosiren resided is quite smooth in the interior, but gives no idea of the real shape 

 of the inhabitant, the cell seeming to be somewhat large, most probably on account of 

 the coat of mucous substance with which it was lined, and part of which is to be seen still 

 adhering, like flakes of dry membrane, to the sides of the cell. 



By rapidly tearing this membranous substance with an oblique bearing, it can be in 

 some places split like a scrap of paper under similar circumstances, but when placed 

 under the microscope, it shows no sign of organization, being of a light brown color, 

 irregularly mottled with black. When burned, it rapidly takes fire and bursts into flame, 

 giving out a very nauseous odor, like that which is perceived on burning the wing-case 

 of a beetle, and leaves a firm black ash, of nearly the same shape and form as before 

 the light was applied to it. 



The remainder of this substance is found loosely adhering to the body of the former 

 inhabitant, and can be easily stripped off. 



On being immersed in water, the earthy cocoons fell to pieces as if they had been 

 made of sugar, and the imprisoned creatures were thus released. At first they were 

 exceedingly sluggish, and hardly stirred, but after the lapse of an hour or two they became 

 tolerably alert. 



One of these specimens died after it had been kept about six weeks, and a good plaster- 

 cast of it is now before me. Its length is ten inches, and the circumference of the head, 

 just in front of the fore pair of limbs, is exactly three inches. The scales are tolerably 

 well marked, and are shown even in the plaster-cast, though in the living animal there 

 is hardly a trace of them. They are also very evident after the creature has been 

 immersed in spirits for some time. In taking a cast of the Lepidosiren the mucous secre- 

 tion with which the body is covered affords a serious obstacle to the correctness of the im- 

 age, as it is apt to adhere to the plaster, and pull away with it some portions of the 

 skin. 



A fellow-specimen, that floated dead from its cocoon, is also before me, bent on itself 

 in the manner usual among these creatures, and with its mouth widely open, showing 

 the peculiar teeth. 



Finding, as has already been mentioned, that the Lepidosiren would rise to the sur- 

 face of the water when a splashing was made, the attendants used to feed it by paddling 

 about with the finger, and then holding a piece of raw beef in the spot where the dis- 

 turbance had been made. The creature used to rise deliberately, snatch the meat away, 

 and, with a peculiarly graceful turn of the body, descend to its former resting-place for 

 the purpose of eating its food. 



The mode of eating was very remarkable. Taking the extreme tip of the meat between 

 its sharp and strongly formed teeth, it would bite very severely, the whole of the head 

 seeming to participate in the movement, just as the temporal muscles of the human face 

 move when we bite anything hard or tough. It then seemed to suck the meat a very 

 little farther into its mouth and gave another bite, proceeding in this fashion until it had 

 subjected the entire morsel to the same treatment. It then suddenly shot out the 

 meat, caught it as before by the tip, and repeated the same process. After a third such 

 manoeuvre it swallowed the morsel with a quick jerk. The animal always went through 

 this curious series of operations, never swallowing the meat until after the third time of 

 masticating. 



After a while, it was thought that the water in which it lived was not sufficiently 

 warm to represent the tepid streams of its native land, and its tank was consequently 

 sunk in the north basin of the building, where the water is kept at a tepid heat for the 

 purpose of nourishing the tropical plants which grow in it. Here the creature remained 

 for some time, but at last contrived to wriggle itself over the side of its tank, and roam 

 about in the large basin quite at liberty. 



