M U It 
of a little black tube like a barbie. The circular arcs 
which fuftain the gills are entirely fmooth. There is no 
true lateral line; the dorfal and anal fins cannot be dis¬ 
covered without railing up the Ikin. The mode of catch¬ 
ing this fpecies is by feeking for them at low water under 
large ftones or rocks on the fea-fhore, and killing them 
with flicks j precaution is necefl'ary for taking them alive, 
as they bite very feverely. 
26. Muraena marmorata, the marbled muraena: vent 
nearer the head than to the end of the tail, the fin of 
which is very fhort; body and tail marbled black and 
white. Dimenfions and habits nearly as the preceding. 
They are often found half concealed under rocks partly 
overflowed, railing their heads above water in fearch of 
prey, which they feize with great celerity and greedinefs. 
They have verylharp teeth in both jaws and in the palate ; 
upper jaw longer, fnout long; cheeks puffed out; irides 
golden ; fcales hardly vifible. 
27. Muraena olivacea, the blenny murasna : no appear¬ 
ance of fins ; a glutinous milky liquor over the whole 
body; colour olive, fpotlefs; belly whitifh. Obferved by 
Commerfon in the Strait of Magellan ; and by Cepede 
made a diflintt genus, Muraeno-blenna, blenna lignifying 
mucolity, it feeming to l'ecrete a greater quantity of fiime 
than almoft any fifh. Length half a yard ; diameter one- 
eighteenth part. Kept in fpirits for two months, fcarcely 
any thing remained of it but an oily gluey mafs. This is 
probably the fifh mentioned by Pallas in the following 
terms: “ The lake Baikal yields a fifh which is entirely 
peculiar to it. The Ruffian inhabitants of the borders of 
the lake call it folomjianha. It has only been known within 
thefe few years ; though probably the knowledge of it 
had previoufly exifted, and been loft by negligence. This 
fifh perfectly refembles a lump of fat. When put on the 
gridiron, the oily fat with which it is filled melts fo as to 
leave nothing but the bones. It is never taken in nets, 
and has never been feen alive. It is with probability fup- 
pofed to refide only in the gulfs of the Baikal. It exills 
in the centre of the lake, and in feveral places of the 
fteep banks to the north ; where lines of 3 or 400 fathoms 
have failed to reach the bottom. It would be difficult to 
affign the caul’es which throw thefe fifh to the furface. It 
happens commonly in fummer, during the high winds 
which come from the mountains, or the hurricanes from 
the north. At thofe feafons, thefe fifh are thrown on the 
banks, efpecially on the coafts of Pofolfkoi, or towards 
the mouth of the river of that name. When thfe lake has 
been agitated by tempefts, they are found floating on the 
water in fuch quantities as in fome years to form a para¬ 
pet on the fhore. This proves a rich harveft for the in¬ 
habitants, who extract an oil from them, which they fell 
to the Chinefe. When thefe fifh are thrown on fhore, they 
are not devoured by the gulls and crows, which are pro¬ 
bably difgufted with their oily fat. They fcarcely remain 
two hours on the bank before a flight preflure with the 
hand makes them melt to oil. 
28. Murasna firen, the firen, or mud-inguana : the pec¬ 
toral fins divided into four finger-like appendages; three 
notched bones in the gills. 
This Angular animal was firft obferved by Dr. Garden 
of Charleftown, and afterwards defcribed by Mr. Ellis in 
the Philol’ophical Tranfadtions for 1766. It is in length 
from thirty-one to forty inches. It is an inhabitant of 
South Carolina, where it is found in fwampyand muddy 
places, by the fides of pools, and under the trunks of old 
trees that hang over the water; and feeds on ferpents. 
The pedloral fins appear like little arms and hands, each 
furnifhed with four fingers, and each finger with a claw. 
“ The head is fomething like dn eel, but more com- 
prefled ; the eyes are fmall, blue, and placed as thofe of 
the eel are. This fmallnefs of the eye beft fuits an animal 
that lives fo much in mud. The noftrils are very plainly 
to be diftinguifhed ; thefe, with the gills, and remarkable 
length of the lungs, ffiow it to be a true amphibious ani¬ 
mal. The mouth is fmall in proportion to the length of 
Vol. XVI. No. uojt 
JE N A. 20) 
the body; but the palate and infide of the low'er jaw are 
well provided with many rows of pointed teeth : with 
this provifion of nature, added to the (harp exterior bony 
edges of both the upper and under jaw, the animal feems 
capable of biting and grinding the hardeft kind of food. 
The (kin, which is black and full of fmall fcales, refembles 
fhagreen. The fcales are of different fizes and (hapes, ac¬ 
cording to their fituation ; but all appear funk into its ge¬ 
latinous furface ; thofe along the back and belly are^of 
an oblong oval form, and clofefet together ; in the other 
parts they are round, and more dillindl. Both the parts 
are mottled with fmall white fpots, and have two diftimSt 
lines compofed of fmall white ftreaks continued along 
from the feet to the tail. The fin of the tail has no rays, 
and is no more than an adipous membrane like that of the 
eel." 
Linnaeus, from the defcriptions fent him, made it a new 
genus named Siren, of a new order Meantes, of the clafs 
Amphibia. But from this clafs both the order Meantes 
and that of Nantes have been lately expunged ; and Gme- 
lin has reduced the firen to a fpecies of the prefent genus. 
Its place here, however, feems ftill of doubtful propriety; 
as Gmelin himfelf acknowledges. For Camper, having 
lately had an opportunity to diffeft the firen, difcovered, 
that on each fide of the head it is furnifhed with three 
true gills, feparated from each other by membrane's hav¬ 
ing tooth-like appendages; that the mouth is armed with 
ftrong and firmly-planted teeth ; that the heart has only 
one ventricle ; and that the abdomen is filled with very 
long and capacious inteftines : from all thefe circum- 
ftances, he concludes, that this animal ought to be conli- 
dered as a fifh of the order Branchioftegi; while in other 
refpefts it is more nearly allied to the genus Muraena, of 
the order Apodes 5 although it differs materially from the 
other fpecies of that genus, by having only three notched 
bones in the gills, and from tlfe pettoral fins being each 
divided into four finger-like appendages. Another genus 
with which this curious animal has evidently a great affi¬ 
nity, is the Lacerta, or lizard. It very much refembles 
the larva, or firft Hate, of a lizard ; and it is ftill doubt¬ 
ful whether it may not really be fuch ; yet it has never 
been obferved in any other Hate, having two feet'only, 
without any appearance of a hind pair ; the feet are alfo 
furnifhed with claws, whereas the larvae of all the Lacerta; 
are obferved to be without claws; or, in the Linnasan 
phrafe, digitis muticis. The body is eel-ihaped, but night¬ 
ly flattened beneath ; marked on the fides by feveral 
wrinkles, and flightly compreffed towards the extremity 
of the tail. On each fide the neck are three ramified 
branchial procefles, refembling, on a larger l'cale, thofe 
belonging to the larvae of water-newts ; and at the bale 
are the openings into the gills. It has a kind of fqueak- 
ing or finging voice, for which reafon Linnaeus diftin¬ 
guifhed it by the title of Siren. It remains to be added, 
that the firen, if thrown on the ground with any degree of 
violence, has been obferved to break in two or three 
places; in this particular refembling the Anguis fragiiis, 
or flow-worm. It is alfo proper to obferve, that no lizard 
of which it may be fuppofed the larva, has ever yet been 
difcovered in thofe parts of Carolina where it is moll fre¬ 
quent. The fpecies to which it feems moll allied is the 
Lacerta teguixin of Linnasus, which is a native of South 
America. The firen is fliown on the Plate, at fig. 4. 
29. Murasna anguina, the four-footed firen : feet four, 
with eel-ihaj>ed body, and ramified branchiae. This lin¬ 
gular animal is found in as Angular a fituation ; being an 
inhabitant of the celebrated and romantic lake called Lake 
Zirchnitz, about fix German miles from Labac, in the 
duchy of Carniola, in Auftria. (See Lake, vol. xii. p. 9r.) 
The fpecies is extremely rare; and is found , in the fpring, 
and towards the decline of fummer, in fome particular 
parts of the above-mentioned lake; and commonly mea- 
fures, when full-grown, from about ten to twelve or thir¬ 
teen inches in length; the la rgeftl'pecimens being near three 
quarters of an inch in diameter. It is entirely of a pale 
1H rofe 
