tributed throughout much of the tropical world. The largest species, a native 
of Ecuador, appears to be three feet long. 
Though these amphibians are related to frogs and salamanders, they 
seem to have originated from a different source. Unlike the more typical 
amphibians with soft moist skins, coecilians have scales which, though small 
and hidden beneath the skin, can be readily detected. Besides scales and 
ordinary slime glands, coecilians have glands from which they squirt a 
semi-poisonous irritating fluid. So slippery is the slime covering their bodies 
that they are exceedingly difficult to hold. 
The coecilian with which man is most familiar is Ichthyophis glutino- 
sus. About a foot long and one-half inch in diameter, it is colored dark 
brown or bluish-black. Yellow bands along each side brighten its otherwise 
dull appearance. The body is marked with narrow transverse folds. This 
species inhabits southern Asia and enters its breeding season after the spring 
monsoon, according to the Sarasins. 
The female curls about her string of two dozen or so yellow eggs after 
burying them in moist ground near running water. During the incubation 
period the eggs increase to nearly twice their original size. The evolving 
embryo develops three pairs of long delicately fringed gills which soon 
shrivel, leaving a small hole known as the gill cleft. 
After hatching, the larva lives aquatically for a long period. Two 
finlike crests on the tail act as propellers and enable the youthful Ichthy¬ 
ophis to reach the surface for air. At this stage, the eyes, though small, are 
well developed and about fifty epidermal sense organs appear as white spots 
on the gray skin, from gill cleft to tail tip. With further growth the tail 
shortens and loses its crests; a film of skin covers the eyes; facial tentacles 
make their appearance and the skin undergoes a complete transformation. 
Finally the larva emerges from the water and begins its burrowing under¬ 
ground life. 
The eel-like Typhlonectes is the only thoroughly aquatic coecilian, 
having the additional distinction of omitting the egg-laying stage observed 
by other members of the family. Only two other species of coecilians, the 
Siphonops of South America and the Dermophis of West Africa are known 
to bring forth their young alive. 
The specimens of Typhlonectes reproduced here were secured by Prof. 
E. R. Dunn and are probably the only individuals ever photographed. 
210 
