Supplement to the Zoology. 161 
SUPPLEMENT TO THE ZOOLOGY. 
———— 
Art. XXII1.—The Proteus of the North-American Lakes ; 
announced in a Letter from Samueu L. Mircnis, 
President of the New-York State Medical Society, Sur- 
geon-General of the Militia, Sc. &c. to Professor Con- 
FIGLIaccul, of Pavia, dated October, 7, 1821. 
{Read before the Lyceum of Natural History, October 8, 1821.1 
Sir, 
I hope my answer to your obliging letter and its accom- 
paniments, has reached you. It was despatched early in 
June. It contained as correct an opinion on the Proteus 
and Siren, as I had, at that time, been enabled to form. I 
have now the pleasure of mentioning to you an animal 
from Lake St. Clair, which has not probably been placed 
before you. It was brought hither by my friend Major 
Delafield, who, in addition to his professional accomplish- 
ments, is a zealous promoter of natural science. 
This creature is a reptile, and according to the modern 
classification, belongs to the order of Batraciens, that is, of 
animals having a heart with a single auricle and a single 
ventricle, and in most other respects an organization anala- 
gous to the toad and frog family. 
He grows as J am informed, frequently to the length ot 
two feet ; and is thick and chubby. The present speci- 
men is not more than half that length; one of the smallest 
having been selected for the greater ease of transportation. 
He is sometimes caught by the hook as fishes are. 
This has happened at Black-rock, near the north-eastern 
extremity of Lake Erie. Not long ago, a man carried one 
of them in a tubof fresh water, from house to house through 
Lower Canada, and took money for the exhibition of so 
extraordinary a creature ; entertaining the people with a 
spectacle resembling an eel, with four legs and ruddy gills 
on the outside of his neck. 
From the duration of his life, and the size to which he 
grows, there is reason to believe the reptile under conside- 
