have put into the water, in which I keep ray Siren, 
a quantity of mud or sand, I have often observed him 
scratching with bis toes, for the worms which he was 
incapable of seeing, by reason of the dirt in which 
they were enveloped.—Lastly, I have seen, on many 
occasions, the Siren employing his feet, both in 
climbing and in walking. In climbing he uses them 
to so much advantage, that I have frequently found 
it very diiRcult to confine him to his vessel; to which, 
indeed, I should not be able to restrict him, if the 
vessel were not kept covered. When I have poured 
the water out of the vessel, or when I have placed 
him upon a floor, or upon the ground, he uses his 
feet in walking, or rather in creeping, which he does 
(( very slowly even much more so than the crota- 
lus, w^hich is one of the serpentes tcirdigradae. What 
Baron Zois says of the movements of the Proteus 
anguinus may, with equal propriety, be said of the 
Syren : It creeps very slowly or rather very 
deliberately.’’ ^^ In this particular, (the Baron con- 
tinues,) it differs from every other creeping animal, 
insomuch, that he is tempted to call this motion” — 
characteristic of the Proteus.’’^ But, perhaps, it 
is not less characteristic of the Siren. 
I am not yet prepared to speak confidently con- 
cerning the food of the Siren, in his native ponds, 
and other wet places. It has been said, that this 
animal lives upon serpents, which he catches and 
* See Dr. Schreibers’s Historical and Anatomical Description, 
&c. &c. p 245. — The Proteus Tritonius likewise, as has already 
been observed, moves very slowly when taken out of the water; 
and so does the Salamandra horrida. 
