oftlie Proteus Aagumils. T 



This reptile feeds on worms, small bivalves, and snails. In 

 this he resembles the salamander, but he bears fasting much 

 better, being able to live two years and even more without ali* 

 ment. "When taken from his natural habitation, and expdsed 

 to the vicissitudes of the season, like other perfect reptiles, he 

 hides himself during the winter, is inert, and refuses food. 



The proteus does not live Jong if he is taken out of the water. 

 When he becomes dry, he dies more or less quickly, according 

 as the season is more or less warm, being less able to sustain life 

 under such circumstances than fishes. But if the proteus die 

 more speedily wh^n out of water ; in water, on the contrary, he 

 lives better than fishes, since, ctderis paribus, he has not such 

 frequent need of a renewal of the water as fishes have. When 

 placed in a small vessel, in water at the temperature of Qd>°.5, 

 the proteus, like fishes, rises at times to the surface to take in 

 air by the mouth. In doing this, he opens his mouth as wide 

 as he is able, and again rejects the air very quickly through the 

 branchial apertures. In the act of taking in air, and passing it 

 through these apertures, he makes a certain noise not unlike 

 that made by a syringe, when a little air insinuates itself with 

 the liquid into the tube ; but when the animal is removed from 

 the water, and then inspires air by the mouth, this noise is not 

 heard. In the escape of the air by the branchial apertures, when 

 the animal breaths in air, some minute bubbles remain attach- 

 ed to the margins of the apertures, or to the roots of the gills $ 

 arid the gills themselves collapse and fall down against the sides 

 of the head. On the contrary, when the air is received into the 

 mouth while the animal is in water, it escapes freely through the 

 branchial apertures, and rises in bubbles to the surface. 



The necessity of inspiring air from time to time, is more or 

 less great, according as the water is more or less impure ; and it 

 h^ a more direct relation to the temperature than to tlie quan- 

 tity of water. It is greatest when tile animal is removed from 

 the water ; he is then seen to lake in air, and reiterate this ope- 

 ration ; his breathing becomes weaker, and at the end of two or 

 three hours he ceases to breathe. But if the water of the vessel 

 have the temperature of 63°.5, and be also frequently renewed, 

 he then has no need of rising to the surface to inspire air, and 

 this is still less necessary if the watei* be in large quantity, or 



