THE SIREN. 



'95 



The general color of this creature is olive-brown above, dotted with black, and with 

 a black streak from the nostril through the eye, and along each side to the tail. Be- 

 low it is blackish brown with olive spots. 



OUR last example of the Batrachians is the curious SIREN, or MUD-EEL, as it is 

 sometimes called, on account of its elongated eel-like form and its mud-loving habits. 



It is a native of several parts of America, and is found most plentifully in Carolina, 

 where it haunts the low-lying and marshy situations. The rice-grounds seem to be its 

 most favored localities, the muddy soil being the substance best adapted for its means 



SIREN. -S/ren lacertiaa. 



of progression. Its food seems to consist almost entirely of worms and various insects, 

 of which it will consume a considerable quantity every day. A fine specimen that 

 lived for some time in the Zoological Gardens used to feed upon earthworms, of which 

 it would devour about eighteen or twenty every two days. This individual passed 

 the greater part of its time beneath the thick stratum of soft mud with which the bed of 

 the basin was profusely covered. This was a very long specimen, and by an unini- 

 tiated observer would probably have been taken for an eel. 



The head of the Siren is small in proportion to the size of the animal, the eye is 

 very small, and the gill tufts are three in number on each side, and beautifully plumed. 

 It has only one pair of legs, the hinder set being wanting, and the front pair are ex- 

 tremely small, and of no practical use in progression. It has only three toes on each 

 foot. The color is dark blackish brown, and the length of a fine specimen is about 

 three feet. 



