NOTE. 
The following pages, though drawn up in the form of a letter 
to Mr. Schneider, a late celebrated writer on the Amphibious 
Animals, have never been seen in Manuscript by that gentle- 
man. Only fifty copies of the work are printed, and these will 
be distributed among a few of my friends, chiefly foreign na- 
turalists. It is my wish, that the entire work may not on any 
account, be republished by any of those gentlemen to whom 
I may transmit copies. I have no objection to its being care- 
fully examined, criticised upon, and quoted, or referred to. At 
some future period, I shall publish a much more finished ac- 
count of the American species of Sirena Proteus. I have 
already, indeed, since the original date of my letter to Mr. 
Schneider in April, 1807, greatly extended my acquaintance 
with these animals ; and have nearly completed the anatomical 
history of one of the species, and illustrated the anatomy of the 
parts by fine drawings. All these will ultimately be laid be- 
fore the public. The pages now circulated among my friends, 
may serve at least, to amuse them, and to remove some of their 
doubts concerning one of the most curious families of animals 
in that vast, various, and interesting assemblage, to which the 
naturalists have given the name of Amphibia. 
BENJAMIN SMITH BARTON, M. D. 
Philadelphia, August I9th, 1608. 
