REPTILES. 



extremity of tlic os liyoides. The inteftinal canal extends its pulmonary organs, and the very inconfiderable extent of 



nearly in a Itraii/lit line through the abdomen. The oefo- 

 phagus is folded longitudinally ; and the ftomach is only a 

 rather larger portion of the canal, not marked by any con- 

 ftriftion. There is neither caecum nor large inteltine. An 

 oblong liver, pointed at the two ends, of a blackirti-grey 

 colour, with two notches in its left edge, occupies about 

 two-thirds of the length of the animal. A large gall 



their furface. 



It is a very rare animal, having been hitherto found, and 

 that in very (mall numbers, only in thofe lakes of Carniola, 

 which are celebrated on account of their fubterranean com- 

 munications and the (ingular phenomena which refult from 

 them. That of Cirknit?, is the mod famous, and is regarded 

 as the fource of all the others. According to Laurcnti, 



bladder, attached to the internal furface of the liver, pours the firfl prottu, was found in this : but Schreibers adure 

 .!,„ u:i- :...,- .,., :_..n._. t,.. _ n.^.. „.„„i n-u ^^ ^,^3^ j^ ^^^j^. i^jj^bits the lake caiicd Sitticher See, com- 

 municating with the Cirknitz ; and that it is thrown out 

 in the overrtowings, which occur once or twice a-year. 



Cuvier thinks it probable that its natural abode is in the 

 fubterranean communications extending from one lake to 

 the other. It has, in faft, all the charaftcrr. of a fubter- 

 raneous, as well as of an aquatic, animal. Its fmall eyes, 

 concealed and rendered ufclefs by an opaque fkin, recall to 

 us the blind rat (zemni, mus, or fpalax typhlus) v.hicKhvei 

 under ground, and has exaftly the fam- organization. 



In a letter to Cuvier, Schreibers informed him that, fince 

 the publication of his paper in 1 80 1, he hai met with feve- 



the bile into the intcfline by a fliort canal. The pancrea: 

 is fmall and narrow, and attached to the intefline oppofite 

 to the gall-bladdQr. An oblong narrow fplcen is attached 

 to the mcfentery, and is about one-fourth of the length of 

 the liver. The mefentery is fimple, and has the ufual vcflbls. 

 There is no omentum. 



7'Xt' Organs of Circulation are the fame as in the firen, ex- 

 cept that the branchial veins unite together, to form the 

 defcending artery, rather lower down. 



Organs of Refplratlon. — The branchise are moved, as in 

 the axolotl, tlie firen, &c. : but no reptile has fo fmall a 

 proportion of lung as the proteus. There is no larynx. 



vain fought for one without the branchi*. That he himfc;f 

 has fome, which have been two years in his poiTeffion, alive 

 and well, although they have taken no food the whole 

 time. 



For the external figure and anatomy of this animal, fee 

 the plates fubjoined to Dr. Schreibers' paper in the Pljil. 

 Tranf. and pi. 13 of the Recueil d'Obf. de Zool. et 

 d'Anat. Comparee de H'lmboldt, v. i. 



Another of thefe doubtful animals has been fio-ured in 

 the Annales du Mufenm, v. 10. p. 230. pi. ly. under the 



properly fo called, only a fmall opening at the bottom of "! '"^ividuals, all perfectly aliKc, among which he had in 



the pharynx, wnicn is the entrance or a common crelcent- 



fliaped cavity, the angles of which are prolonged to form 



the lungs. The latter are merely two very thin membranous 



canals, terminated by a flight dilatation, prefenting in their 



interior no divifion into cells, and exhibiting very few blood- 



vclfcls on their parietes. When we confider how little 



difference there is between fuch lungs and the forked air- 

 bladders of fome cartilaginous fiflies, we can hardly help 



concluding that there is fome analogy between the two 



organs. , . - . , — 



Organs of Generatlon.-ln the female dilleded by Cuvier, "T' °^ ^T"'' ?\ ^^}^^^^f^ tetradaftyle, by Lacepede, 

 long lobed ovaries, full of very diftinft fmall ova, were "J? ^^^^ there d'^f^-nbed its external conformatK^n. It 

 & ' ' polleties branchial appendages, eyes covered by the epi- 



dermis, and two rows of fine teeth. As only the fpecimen 

 defcribed in the above quoted work is known (without any 

 information about the quarter whence it came), its anato- 

 mical ftrufture has not been examined. All the appearances 

 lead us to expeft an internal organization like thofe of the 

 proteus and firen. 



The following are the principal fources of information on 

 the fubjedls of the preceding article. Cuvier, Lemons d'Ana- 

 tomie Comparee. Blumenbach's Manual of Comparative 

 Anatomy ; alfo his Specimen Phyfiologice comparatas inter 

 Animalia calidi et frigidi fanguinis, 410. Goett. 1787 ; or 



oblong lobeQ ovaries, lull 01 very 



fituated towards the lower part of the abdomen, at the fides 

 of the reftum. Very long ovidufts, making feveral turns, 

 like thofe of the falamander, afcend to the anterior third 

 part of the cavity. 



Organs of Secretion. — There are kidnies and a bladder, as 

 in the falamanders : the former are very long, and pafs high 

 up in the abdomen. 



All thefe obfervations, and particularly thofe concerning 

 the ofteology, make it clear that the proteus is a particular 

 animal, different from all hitherto known : they alfo make 

 it very probable that it is an adult animal, not deftined to 

 undergo any further change of Itate. 



A proteus taken alive threw up from its ftomach many 

 fhells of the genus helix, but it would not take thefe (hells 

 or any other food, and became dady more languid and weak. 

 It feemed, when alive, very torpid, and moved but feldom ; 

 it fwam, however, fometimes, with the help of its broad 

 tail, very fwiftly, in every direftion. The firil days it crept 



in Commentation. Soc. Reg. Scient. Goettingenf. v. 8. 

 Daudin, Hiltoire Naturelle des Reptiles, in the 8yo. edition 

 of Buffon by Sonnini, 8 tomes. Bsengniart, Memoire fur 

 une nouvelle Clafiification des Reptiles. Lacepede, Hiftoire 

 Naturelle des Quadrupedes ovipares et des Serpens. La- 

 treille, Hift. Nat. dvs Salamandres de France, avec figures. 

 Schneider, Hilloria Amphibiorum. Schocpff, Hiftoria Tef- 



flowly on the bottom, and feemed to look for food ; it often tudinum, 4to.^ Schneider, Naturgefchichte der Schild-kroten 



took a fhell into its mouth, but gave it out again, fwallow- Roefel, Hilloria Ranarum. Memoires pour fervir a I'Hif- 



ing none. Several times it rofe to the furface, ftretched toire des Animaux. Tyfon's Anatomy of a Rattlefnake, 



its head out of the water, and took in air, but returned Phil. Tranf. v. 13. Swammerdam Biblia Naturae. Cliaras, 



direftly to the bottom. It ufes its feet in creeping on the Nouvelles Experiences fur la Vipere. Caldefi, OlTervazioni 



bottom, and in afcendiiig along the fides of the veifel, if of Anatomiche intorno alle Tartarughe, 4to. Hermann, 



wood. It creeps very flowly or deliberately, infomuch that Tabulx affinitatum Animalium. Spallanzawi's Diliertations. 



this motion feemed quite charafteriftic of the animal. Cuvier, Recherches fur les Reptiles douteux, in Humboldt, 



It often produces a hiffing kind of noife, pretty loud, Recueils d'Obferv. de Zool. et d'Anat. Comp. v. i. Vari- 



more fo than one fhould expeft from the fize of the animal, ous papers by Cuvier and Geoffrey St. Hilaire, in the 



and refembling that produced by drawing the pilfon of a Annales du Mufeum. 

 fyringe. Reptiles are likewife ufed, abufivcly, for plants which 



All the habits of the proteus defignatc a flowiiefs and creep on the earth, or on other plants, as wanting flrength 



weaknefs agreeing very well with the cxccffivc i'mallncfs of of ftalk to fuftain thcrafelves. 



Such 



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