Subclass Dipneusti, or Lung-fishes 243 
in the rainy season have a depth of from two to four feet, be- 
coming entirely dry in the southern winter (June, July). 
Kerr on the Habits of Lepidosiren—The loalach, as the Lepi- 
dostren is locally called, is normally sluggish, wriggling slowly 
about at the bottom of the swamp, using its hind limbs in 
irregular alternation as it clambers through the dense vegeta- 
tion. More rapid movement is brought about by lateral 
strokes of the large and powerful posterior end of the body. 
It burrows with great facility, gliding through the mud, for 
which form of movement the shape of the head, with the 
Fre. 178 —Embryo (3 days before hatching’ and larva (13 days after hatching) 
of Lepidosiren paradoxa Fitzinger. (After Kerr.) 
upper lip overlapping the lower and the external nostril placed 
within the lower lip, is admirably adapted. It feeds on plants, 
alge, and leaves of flower-plants. The gills are small and quite 
unable to supply its respiratory needs, and the animal must 
rise to the surface at intervals, like a frog. It breathes with 
its lungs as continuously and rhythmically as a mammal, the 
air being inhaled through the mouth. The animal makes no 
vocal sound, the older observation that it utters a cry like 
that of a cat being doubtless erroneous. Its strongest sense is 
that of smell. In darkness it grows paler in color, the black 
