19 
and very narrow ductj whicli this writer calls the 
Pneumatic duct;’’ and of a capacious membranous 
sac, called the ^^Air-Bladder,” or Pneumatic Bag,’^ 
into which the duct terminates. But the Carnioliaii 
and the American animal seem to agree with each 
other in having^their lungs quite simple, without any 
cellular structure.^ 
But, to return to professor Camper, — have some- 
times thought, that he missed to see the lungs in the 
supposed Siren, which he examined, by reason of the 
contracted state into which the parts may have been 
brought, by the spirit in which the specimen was pre- 
served. But, as he found ribs in the animal which 
was the subject of his investigation!, and as the Siren 
(like the Proteus anguinus) is destitute oj ribs, I 
must conclude, that the great Dutch anatomist did 
not dissect any of those amphibious animals, which 
I refer to the genus Siren, or Proteus. ! And yet, 
this supposition, is not without its difficulties : for 
the memoirs, or papers of Ellis, Linnsens, and Hun- 
ter, were to be procured, and were, doubtless in his 
* A Historical and Anatomical Description of a doubtful amphi- 
bious animal of Germany, called Proteus Anguinus. By Charles 
Schreibers, M. D. of Vienna See Philosophical Transactions, &c. 
for the year 1801, part ii. 
f Gmelin has adopted Camper’s assertion concerning the exist- 
ence of ribs in the Sii’en lacertina. Speaking of this animal the in- 
dustrious and learned Gottingen professor has the following words : 
“ Habitat in Carolinae paludibus, costata, cauda ossi- 
culata” Systema JVaturae, Tom i. Part hi p. 1136. The Siren, 
I say, has no ribs : but he has bones in his tail, and he is fui’nished 
with a strong, compact, and beautiful vertebral structure In the 
whole of the vertebral column of a large Siren, I counted fifty- seven 
distinct bones ; and I think that, at least, one or two more have 
been lost in macerating the animal to prepare its skeleton. 
The ingenious Dr. Shaw seems to assume it as a fact, that Cam- 
per did actually possess and examine the true Siren lacertina. — Ge- 
neral Zoology, &c. vol hi. part h p. 606. 
