SIREN LACERTINA. 



103 



generally, though not always, studded with small white or milky-white dots. The 

 under surface is purple, with a tinge of violet. 



Dimensions. Length of head, 1 inch; length of body, 12 inches; length of tail, 

 6 inches: total length, 19 inches. They frequently reach dimensions much 

 greater. I have often seen them 2 feet long; and Dr. Philip Tydiman, of 

 Charleston, informs me that many years since he procured one nearly 3 feet in 

 length for the celebrated Blumenbach of Goettingen. 



Habits. The Siren lacertina lives chiefly in mud, and is abundant in our rice- 

 fields, and are often thrown out in great numbers, at certain seasons, when the 

 ditches are cleaned; being regarded, however, as venomous by the slaves, they 

 are instantly killed or dreadfully mangled, and left to serve as food for racoons or 

 for turkey-buzzards ever on the watch. 



Sometimes they leave the soft mud, in which they commonly burrow, and take 

 to the water, in which they swim with great swiftness. My colleague, Professor 

 Moultrie, assures me that occasionally they are taken by persons angling for the 

 common perch of Carolina, (Pomotis Vulgaris,) with a bait of earthworms. 



Sometimes they leave the water entirely, like eels, and are found on dry land; 

 but whether in search of food, or to rid themselves of parasitic animals, cannot at 

 this moment be determined. 



Geographical Distribution. The range of the Siren lacertina begins as far 

 north as latitude 35°, whence it reaches through South Carolina and Georgia to 

 East Florida; but I have no evidence of their existence in any of the rivers or 

 streams that empty into the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Conrad the conchologist, in 

 fact ascertained, that the dividing ridge of high land between the waters of the 

 Appalachicola and Altamaha rivers, was an important limit in the geographical 

 distribution of fresh-water shells; and it will doubtless be found the same as 

 regards other animals exclusively aquatic. 



