THE BATRACHIA OF NORTH AMERICA. 219 



cies at the period of development of the young and describes them in 

 the following language :* 



"At the close of August, 1887,1 spent a few days in Little Rock^ 

 Ark., in the employ of Dr. Branner, of the Arkansas geological survey. 

 On September 1 I visited a cypress swamp in the vicinity of the city 

 for the purpose of collecting some reptiles. During the severe summer 

 drongbt this swamp had been almost completely dried up, and there 

 was little chance to get anything except by turning over pieces of fallen 

 timber. Beneath a log of considerable size I found to my surprise a 

 large animal coiled up, which by its smooth glistening skin I immedi- 

 ately saw could not be a snake; but, having never before seen a living 

 Amphiuma, it took me some time to realize that I had before me one of 

 these animals. After making due preparation to prevent its escape I 

 gave the animal a push with a stout stick, and then, no attempt at re- 

 treat being made, 1 lifted it out of the slight depression in which it was 

 lying and let it straighten itself out. Meanwhile I had observed, lying 

 in the midst of the coils, a mass of moist-looking matter, nearly as large 

 as one's fist. Picking this up, I discovered it to be a mass of eggs. 

 This was put into a jar of alcohol, and immediately the young within 

 the egg could be seen writhing about, thus showing that they were in 

 an advanced stage of development. The mother offered no resistance 

 on being handled, and was put into a small school satchel nnd car- 

 ried to the State geologist's office, a mile away, with two empty fruit- 

 jars lying on lier. That night she was kept in an empty boat-box. 

 This was some eighteen inches in height, and from it she made efforts to 

 escape. She would erect herself in one corner until her head was on a 

 level with the edge of the box, but she could get no farther. Once in 

 falling down she uttered a shrill sound somewhat like a whistle or the 

 peeping ot a young chicken. A cry like that of a young duck has been 

 attributed by some observer to the Siren, but Barton in some of his 

 writings denies the statement that such a sound is made. 



" The limbs of these animals are very small. For instance, of this 

 one, having a length of 31 inches, the hinder limbs are only three-fourths 

 of au inch long, the anterior only one-half an inch. Yet, when it was 

 moving over the ground or the floor, it was amusing to observe that its 

 feet were put forward and drawn back, as if they really could be of some 

 use. 



" On irritating this Amphiume by pushing her with a stick she would 

 snap at it viciously, and on further irritation would seize it in her jaws 

 and, springing from the floor in the form of a spiral, would turn rapidly 

 round and round, thus twisting the stick in one's hand. Any enemy 

 thus attacked would certainly find his interest in the affair fully 

 aroused. 



"There are two points in the structure of the adult to which I wish 

 to call attention ; although no doubt they have already been observed 



^American Naturalist. April, 1888. 



