AMPHIUMIDAE 



lOI 



front of the fore-limbs lies the pair of small gill-clefts, each 

 guarded by two flaps of the skin. There are four branchial arches. 

 The general colour of this eel-shaped creature is black, lighter 

 below. The head is covered with numerous pores, arranged in 

 several rows, which unite in the region of the neck, so that only 

 two rows extend along the sides of the body. It reaches a 

 length of three feet, and lives in swamps or muddy waters, 



for instance in the ditches of rice-fields, burrowing occasionally in 

 the mud, feeding on crayfishes, molluscs, small fishes, etc. It is 

 confined to the south-eastern States of North America, from 

 Carolina to Mississippi. According to Davison,'^ copulation takes 

 place in May. The rather hard-sheUed eggs are deposited in the 

 following August or September, and are connected by a twisted 

 cord. The female lies about them in a coil. The embryos, which 

 are hatched in the month of November or December, have well- 

 developed external gills. By the following February they have 

 1 /. Morphol. xi. 1895, p. 375. 



