[ i9° J 
eve beft fuits an animal that lives fo much in mud. 
The noftrils are very plainly to be diftinguifhed ; thefe, 
with the gills and the remarkable length of the lungs, 
(hew it to be a true amphibious animal. The mouth 
is fmall in proportion to the body; but its palate and 
infideofthe lower jaw (fee Fig. C) are well provided 
with many rows of pointed teeth ; with this provifion 
of nature, added to the fharp exterior bony edges of 
both the upper and under jaw, the animal feems 
capable of biting and grinding the hardeft kind of food. 
The fkin, which is black, is full of fmall feales, re- 
fembling chagrin. Thefe feales are of different fizes 
and fhapes according to their fituation, but all appear 
funk into its gelatinous furface : thofe along the back 
and belly are of an oblong oval form, and clofe fet 
together : in the other parts, they are round and more 
diftindt. Both the fides are mottled with fmall white 
(pots, and have two diftindt lines compofed of fmall 
white (freaks, continued along from the feet to the tail. 
The fin of the tail has no rays, and is no more than 
an adipofe membrane like that of the eel ; this fin 
appears more diftindtly in the dry animal than in thofe 
that have been preferved in lpirits. 
The opercula or coverings to the gills in dry fpeci- 
mens appear fhri veiled up, but yet we may plainly fee 
they have been doubly pennated. Under thefe cover- 
ings, are the openings to the gills, three on each fide, 
agreeable to the number of the opercula. In the 
plate at Fig. F, the fins are reprefented as they appear 
when juft taken out of the water and put into lpirits of 
wne. 
The form of thefe pennated coverings approach 
very near to what I have (ome time ago obferved, in 
the 
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