107 



November 14th, 1837. 

 Thomas Bell, Esq., in the Chair, 



Dr. Martin Barry, of Edinburgh, exhibited a living specimen of 

 the Proteus anguinus, and read the following communication from 

 Professor Rudolph "Wagner, of Erlangen in Bavaria. 



" I was so fortunate, at the end of the late summer, as to obtain 

 three living Protei; of which I have examined two, just killed, 

 that proved to be a male and female, and have given the third alive 

 to my friend Dr. Barry, who may perhaps have an opportunity for 

 bringing it forward at a meeting of the Zoological Society. The re- 

 sults of my examinations correspond perfectly with the statements of 

 Cuvier, R. Owen, J. Miiller, and others, on the Proteidea ; but are 

 opposed to several of the views lately put forth by Rusconi (Obser- 

 vations sur la Sirene, 1837). I have, for instance, no doubt that the 

 pulmonary sacs or vesicles really perform the function of lungs. Each 

 lung contains a large artery and a still larger vein, which are con- 

 nected together by means of large and numerous vessels. To me the 

 most important point was the examination of the blood globules and 

 the generative organs. I conjectured, on various gi-ounds, that the 

 Proteidea would be found to have, of all animals, the largest blood 

 globules : — first, because the size of the latter in the naked AmpJii- 

 bia in general is the largest in the animal kingdom ; 2ndly, because, 

 remarkable as it is, the blood-globules are here (in the naked Am- 

 phibia) so much the larger, the longer the gills continue in the lar- 

 val state ; hence the land and water salamander have much larger 

 blood globules than the frog. I conjectured also that the Protei 

 (probably also the Siren, &c.), because they permanently have both 

 gills and lungs, — being therefore permanentlj' larva, — would be 

 found to have the largest blood globules. The latter are indeed gi- 

 gantic ; flat, oval, resembling those of the salamander, and from -^v 

 to v^- of a Paris line in length ; hence, as minute points, visible to 

 the naked eye. They are from once to twice the size of the blood 

 globules of the salamander, nearly three times as large as those of the 

 frog, and about twelve or fifteen times the size of those of man. 



" In a female, I found the ova very beautifully developed ; their 

 structure, as well as that of the ovary, corresponding perfectly with 

 that of the other naked Amphibia, especially the Triton. The small- 

 est ova consist of a delicate chorion, yellow yolk, large germinal 

 vesicle, and manifold germinal spot*. I regret to say that in the 

 otherwise tolerably developed testes of the male there were no sper- 

 matozoa. I conjecture however that the spermatozoa of this animal 

 resemble those of the Triton. I would just remark, that the form 

 and size of the blood globules, the formation of the ova, and the form 



* Compare my " Prodromus HisloricE Generationis." 

 No. LIX. — Proceedings of the Zoological Society. 



