30 
tied to the appellation of cantus, or song. This noise 
has often been noticed, and mentioned to me by my 
pupils, and others. From their account, I judge it to 
be very similar to that of the Proteus anguinus, of 
which Dr. Schreibers, on the authority of Baron 
Zois, gives the following account. It often pro- 
duces a hissing kind of , noise, pretty loud, more so 
than one should expect from so small an animal, and 
resembling that produced by drawing the piston of a 
syringe.” On this subject, I cannot venture to speak 
very confidently, from my own observation. 
You know, Sir, what errors have been published 
in regard to the voice of an amphibious animal, which 
is, indeed, very nearly allied to the Siren. Mr. Bo- 
mare asserts, that the cry of the Water Newt very 
nearly resembles that of the frog. On tlie contrary, 
Spallanzani assures us, that this animal is quite 
mute.” “^^It is only (says the illustrious naturalist of 
Pavia) when they (the newts) rise to the surface of 
the water, to expel the old air from the lungs and to 
inhale fresh, that the observer hears a sort of very 
low whistle, scarce perceptible at the distance of 
four paces.”-^ I the more willingly quote this pas- 
sage from the great work of Spallanzani, because I 
am inclined to think, that his theory of the very 
low whistle” of the newt may be applied to explain 
the hissing noise” of the Proteus anguinus, and of 
the Siren. 
But if the name of Siren he abolished, what gene- 
ric name shall we substitute in its place ? If the Pro- 
* Dissertations relative to the Natural History of Animals and 
Vegetable. Vol, ii. p 68,69 — English translation. London, 1789. 
