4 
wliich relates to tlie Siren, and to its congeneres tlie 
Proteus anguinus, the Proteus Tritonius, and several 
other animals, which you and others (since the first 
appearance of the Tables of Hermann) have consi- 
dered as mere larvae of lacertae, or salamandrae. 
Should I only succeed in leading you to doubly 
whether your favourite positions concerning these 
singular amphibious animals be well founded, I shall 
not regret the time which I have devoted to this im- 
perfect view of the history of the American Siren, or 
Proteus. 
If the Siren be only a cordylus, or larva, is it not 
remarkable that we have never yet been able to dis- 
cover the salamander into which (if I may be per- 
mitted the expression) it is ultimately converted, or 
transformed? For the Siren is by no means an un- 
common animal, in many parts of North America. 
We find it in the Floridas, in Georgia, in the Caro- 
linas, and in Virginia. I have even pretty good au- 
thority for assigning to it a more northern latitude 
than the most northern parts of Virginia. But in 
vain have w e sought, in the great tract of country 
which 1 have mentioned, for any species of sala- 
mander, of which the Siren can, with the smallest 
degree of probability, be supposed to be the larva. 
In South- Carolina, from whence we originally re- 
ceived the animal, and the earliest intimations con- 
cerning its manners and fiibric, the favourite habita- 
tions of the Siren are the rice-ponds, and the adja- 
cent muddy grounds. These ponds and grounds 
are almost daily examined, in those seasons of the 
year in which the Sirens are most commonly seen. 
