Blood-corpuscles of A. tridactylum, &c. By Dr. Schmidt. 101 
As has been mentioned before, chance favoured me in throwing 
a considerable number of the eggs of the Amphiuma into my hands, 
enabling me to examine the blood of the embryos contained within. 
It is not often that the nest of this animal is found ; and as there 
are several characteristic points connected with its eggs, which may 
prove of some interest to the zoologist, I shall briefly mention 
them. 
The Amphiuma chiefly inhabits the mud of low waters and 
ditches of the swampy lands along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. 
Considering its eel-like form and minute rudimentary extremities, 
it might be supposed that its habits were entirely aquatic, and that, 
accordingly, its eggs would be deposited and hatched, like those of 
other Amphibia, as the Frog, upon the water. This is not the case ; 
on the contrary, the resting place of the animal seems to be a sub- 
terranean hole with an entrance just above the margin of the water 
in the ditch or pool. In this hole it deposits its eggs. In most 
instances the nest is accidentally discovered, when a fresh ditch is 
dug in the vicinity of an old one. The animal is then found 
encircling the whole mass of eggs with its body. The number of 
eggs, from what I have learned from trustworthy witnesses, must 
be enormous ; and judging from the expression, “ a hatful,” used 
by my friends in giving an idea of the amount, there must be at 
least a thousand or more in one nest. A small portion alone of 
the contents of a nest, sent to me by a friend, consisted of about 
two hundred eggs. Long before I saw these eggs myself, I had 
been told by some of my friends, among the German and French 
gardeners living in the vicinity of the lower parts of the city, and 
kindly supplying me with animals for my researches, that the eggs 
were attached to each other, resembling a string of beads or rosary. 
Not knowing any vertebrated animal,* the eggs of which were 
held together in this manner, the story, of course, excited my 
doubts, but proved to be true in the sequel. The form of the egg 
measures about 14 mm. in length to 11 mm. in breadth. The egg- 
membrane consists of two layers, the external one, being continuous, 
forms the mutual connection betweeu the neighbouring eggs 
(Fig. 45). Both layers of the membrane are transparent in such 
a degree, as to allow the study of every part of the embryo within, 
A thin serous liquid fills up the interior of the egg, and the embryo, 
being heavier than the liquid, rests upon the lowermost portion of 
the egg, returning always to this position whenever the egg is 
suddenly turned. As is shown in the drawing, its body is curled, 
* Among the Invertebrata the same phenomenon is met with ; in some 
varieties of Limax^ a species of snail here, the connection is also formed by the 
outer layer of the egg-membrane passing from one egg to the other. These are 
the only instances known of a direct connection between the eggs. In some 
other snail families the eggs are found to be only imbedded iu tubes or bands 
consisting of a mucilaginous material. 
