No. 112.] 17 



History. This singular reptile was first described by Schneider 

 about the year 1799, from a speciroen obtained from. Lake Charaplain,* 

 This specimen was probably obtained at Winooski falls, which were, for 

 some time, the only known locality of this animal, and where more or less of 

 them are now taken every spring, upon the hooks suspended on night lines 

 for taking fishes. The fishermen formerly considered them poisonous, and 

 when they found them upon their lines they were glad to rid themselves 

 of them by cutting the lines and letting them go with the hook in their 

 mouths; but they are now found to be perfectly harmless and inoffensive. 

 This animal is seldom seen excepting in the months of April and May, 

 and this is the season for depositing its eggs. In a specimen taken on the 

 13th of April, 1840, I found about 150 eggs of the size of a small pea, 

 and apparently just ready to be extruded. The food of this reptile consists 

 of various kinds of worms and insects. The stomach of the one above 

 mentioned contained two hemipterous insects, each three-fourths of an 

 inch long, the wings and bodies of which were entire ; besides numerous 

 fragments of other insects. Of the habits of this animal, very little is 

 known. It seems to spend the greater portion of the time about the falls, 

 concealed in the inaccessible recesses and crevices of the rocks below the 

 surface of the water, and not to venture much abroad excepting at the 

 season for depositing its eggs. Although it passes nearly the whole time 

 in water, it is truly an amphibious animal, having lungs for breathing ia 

 the atmosphere, as well as branchiae for breathing in water. It does not, 

 however, breathe in water by receiving the water into its mouth and pass- 

 ing it out through the gills, in the manner of fishes, but simply by the 

 vibrations of its branchiae in the water. When kept in a vessel containing 

 a large quantity of water, or in which the water is frequently renewed, it 

 manifests but little disposition to rise to the surface for atmospheric air. 



* The following is Schneider's description, and our reptile answers to it in almost 

 every particular. 



Corpus ultra 8 poUices longum et fere pollicem, crassum, molle, spongiosum, multis 

 poris pervium, in utroque latere tribus macularura rotundarum, nigrarum serietus 

 variegatum; cauda compressa et anceps, utrinque maculata, inferiore acie recta, su- 

 periore curvata, in finem teretiusculum tcrminatur. Caput latum et planum : ocuU 

 parvi, nares anteriores in margine labii snperioris, masillfe snperioris geminje ut In- 

 ferioris dentes conici, obtusi, satis longi ; lingue lata, Integra, anterius soluta : apertura 

 oris patit usque ad oculorum lineam verticalem ; labia piscium labiis similia ; pedes 

 dissiti quatuor, tetradactyli omnes, absque unguiculis ; ani rima in longitudinem patet ; 

 branchias utrinque ternse extus propendent, appositae superne totidem arcuhus car- 

 tilagineis, quorum latus internum tubercula cartilaginea, velut in piscium genere, ex- 

 asperant, &.c. 



[Senate, No. 112.J 2 



