92 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY 



common with another form, the Congo " eel." My species, how- 

 ever, was Murcenopsis tridactylus, while Anipliiiuna means is more 

 properly known as the Congo eel among the people in the regions 

 where it occurs. Still both Htircenopsis and Aniphiuma nte<inx 

 bear this name among the negroes and less intelligent people of 

 the South, who also call them " lampreys/' and dread them as 

 they would rattlesnakes. Of course they are in no way whatever 

 venomous, but they will bite. A small one, which I kept in a 

 tank of water, if roughly handled, w^ould curl up, slowly open his 

 mouth, and make an awkward longe at the fingers or hand that 

 held him. Sometimes he would only open his mouth and hiss in 

 a subdued manner. On one occasion, however, this reptile suc- 

 ceeded in getting out of his tank during the night, and when I 



FIG. 23. LIFE-SIZE HEAD OF Murcenopsis tridactylus. Adult. 



Drawn from the living specimen by the Author. 



found him in the morning, in a distant part of the room, he 

 snapped at me quite savagely several times before he was re- 

 taken. 



It was interesting to observe his method of leaping out of his 

 tank of water, which by seven or eight inches was not full. He 

 swam round and round with increasing rapidity till the neces- 

 sary impetus was acquired, when he would prettily make a sort 

 of a spring over the side of the tank on to the floor, where he 

 would squirm round like an eel until replaced. In such situations 

 he uses his feeble legs to the full extent to which they seem ca- 

 pable of being put; in the water, too, these members are con- 

 stantly brought into use, the fore-pair when he desires to move 

 very slowly forward, in which case he may or may not, generally 

 not, use the hind pair in aiding the action. The fore-pair are 



