THE HELLBENDER, OR MENOPOMA 
369 
THE FAMILY OF AMPHIUMAS. 
Amphiumidae. 
Unfortunately there is no English name which 
properly applies to the members of this Family. 
Some are like salamanders, and some are like 
eels; but none are “fish-like” salamanders, as 
they are sometimes called. In the perfect state 
they are without gills, the gill-clefts being in a 
vanishing stage, either reduced to a pair of small 
holes, or totally absent. Both jaws are pro- 
vided with teeth, but the eyes are without 
lids. 
This Family consists of two 
genera and three species, two 
of which are found in the 
United States, the other in 
Japan. 
The Hellbender, or Meno- 
poma , 1 is one of the ugliest 
looking creatures on this con- 
tinent. When fully adult it is 
from 18 to 20 inches in length, 
its head and body are much 
flattened, while its tail is flat- 
tened vertically and complete- 
ly finned. Its legs and feet 
are short and thick, and all 
along the middle of each side 
is a wide, convoluted fold of 
skin. 
Its color is a uniform dull 
brown, accentuated by a few 
dark blotches of very irregular 
shape. On the left side there 
is a gill opening, but on the 
right there is none; and there 
are four pairs of gill-arches. 
The skin is smooth, but the head bears many 
wart-like tubercles. 
This unpleasing animal is found in many of 
the streams that flow into the Ohio River, and 
the Mississippi also, but it is most abundant 
in Pennsylvania, especially in streams whose 
sources are in the Alleghanies. In its food habits 
it is very voracious, feeding upon worms, min- 
nows and crayfish, and often taking the hooks of 
fishermen in quest of that most repulsive of all 
American fishes, the catfish. Fishermen hate 
1 Cryp-to-bran' chus (or Men-o-po'ma ) al-le-gha-ni- 
en'sis 
the Hellbender; but between catfish and Hell- 
bender there would seem to be small choice. 
The Hellbender is very tenacious of life, and 
it is said that it can live on land for twenty-four 
hours without perishing. On this point, Mr. 
William Frear offers the following testimony: 
“One specimen, about eighteen inches in 
length, which had lain on the ground exposed 
to a summer sun for forty-eight hours, was 
brought to the museum, and left lying a day 
longer before it was placed in alcohol. The day 
following, desiring to note a few points of struct- 
ure, I removed it from the alcohol in which it 
had been completely submerged for at least 
twenty hours, and had no sooner placed it on the 
table than it began to open its big mouth, vigor- 
ously sway its tail to and fro, and give other un- 
doubted signs of vitality.” 
The Giant Salamander , 2 of Japan, is a brother 
species to the Hellbender, but is very much larger. 
It is the largest of all the amphibians, and some- 
times attains a length of three feet. Specimens 
may always be seen in the Reptile House of the 
Zoological Park. 
2 Cryp-to-bran' chus max'i-mus. 
