THE SIUBNS. 179 



Orders of Batrachia. 



1. Body long, eel-like, ■with gills, no hind 



legs Tracliystomata (Siren). 



2. Body flat, witli gills, four legs Protsida (Mud-puppy). 



3. No gills in adult life TJrodela (Salamanders). 



4. Body snake lilie; no feet, no tail Gyinnopliiona(Yi\\nA Snake). 



5. Tailless, with four legs, long toes; 



great leapers; young tailed Anura (Toads, Frogs). 



Order 1. Tracliystomata (Sirens). — These singular crea- 

 tures are eel-like in their form and movements, with gills 

 on the sides of the head. They have no hind legs, and the 

 small weak fore-legs are three- or four-toed. The great 

 siren. Siren lacertina, is two or three feet in length, and 

 is four-toed. It lives in swamps and bayous in the South- 

 ern States, especially rice lands. It lives in the mud, going 

 on land or swimming in the water. Its food is sup])osed 

 to be earth-worms, insects, etc. A smaller siren, 9 inches 

 in length with three toes and small gills, is the Pseudo- 

 branchus striatus. It is found in Geoi'gia. 



Order 2. Proieida (Proteus; JSTecturus, niud-pujopy). — 

 These Amphibians are flat-bodied, with bushy thick gills, 

 of a beautiful deep red beneath, with gill-openings, while 

 the jaws are armed with small conical teeth. 



The Proteus of Austrian caves is blind; it has three toes 

 in the fore-feet and two in the hinder pair. Our American 

 Protean is four-toed on all the feet. The mud-jjuppy or 

 Menobranclius {Necturus lateralis) is a large, broad, flat- 

 bodied, fish-like creature. It is brown, mottled with darker 

 spots; it has small eyes, and is from 8 inches to 2 feet in 

 length. It inhabits the Mississippi Valley, and is common 

 in the lakes of Central New York, where it is caught with 

 the hook and line. It is easily kepit in confinement, eating 

 bits of meat. 



Order 3. Urodela (Salamanders, Newts). — These tailed 

 Amphibians rarely have gills when mature, these organs 

 in them being larval or transitory. The body is still long 



