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Show 88 REPTILIA. Immediately after the Salamanders come several very similar animals, some of which are considered as having been always destitute of branchire, that is, they probably lose them at as early a period as our terrestrial Salamanders ; the others, on the contrary, retain them for life, a circumstance, however, which does not prevent their having lungs like the Batrachians, so that they may be considered as the only vertebrate animals which are truly amphibious.(!) The former (those in which no branchire are visible) con-stitute two genera. MENOPOMA, Harlan.(2) Form of a Salamander; eyes apparent, the feet well developed, and an orifice on each side of the neck. Besides the range of small maxillary teeth, there is a parallel row of them on the front of the palate. Such is the reptile termed Sal. gigantea, Barton; Great Salamander of North .!J.merica; Ann. of the New York Lye. I, pl. 17. (The Hellbender.) From fifteen to eighteen inches long; a blackish blue; inhabits the lakes and the rivers of the interior. AMPHIUMA, Garden. An orifice on each side of the neck, but the body excessively elon· gated; the legs and feet~ on the contrary, but very slightly developed; the palatine teeth form two longitudinal ranges. In one species there are but three toes to each foot; .llmph. tridactylum, Cuv.; and in another, .!lmph. means, Gard. and Harl. but two-Mem. du Mus. XIV, pl. 1.(3) (1) The simultaneous existence and action of the branchial tufts and ofthe lungs in these animals, are as incontestable as any one of the most indubitable facts presented to us in natural history; there are now before me the lungs of a Siren three feet long, in which the vascular apparatus is as well developed and as complex as in any reptile whatever, notwithstanding which, the branchia: of this same animal were as complete as those of others. {2) Dr Harlan first called them Ann.&Ncnus; Leukard and Fitzinger call them CnYPTOBR.&Ncuus, and others PnoTONoPsrs. (3) The .llmphiuma was known to Linna:us, but at too late a period to allow him to insert it in any of the editions of his system which appeared during his life. It has been described since by Dr Mitchell, under the name of Dhrysodonta larvre· formis, and by Dr Harlan under that of .llmphiuma. I have described the .llmph. tridadylum of Louisiana, which attains the length of three feet. See Mem. du Mus. tome XlV, 1. I suspect this is the species spoken of by Barton in his letter upon the Siren, as a Siren with four feet. BATRACHIA. 89 Among those which always retain their branchire, the AxoLoTus' Is in every respect similar to the larva of an aquatic Salamander, having four toes before, five behind, three long tufted branchire, &c. The maxillary teeth are like velvet, and those on the vomer in two bands. Such is the Siren P'isciformis, Shaw; the Jlxolotl of the Mexicans; Gen. Zool. v~l. III, part. ii, pl. 140; Humb. Zool. Obs. I, pl. 12. From e1ght to ten mches long; grey, spotted with black. It inhabits the lake that surrounds Mexico.(l) MENOBRANcHus, Harl.-Necturus, Raflin. But four toes to all the feet; a range of teeth in the intermaxillaries and another, parallel, but more extended, in the maxillaries. ' The species most known, Menobrancltus lateralis, Harl.; ·Triton lateralis, Say; Ann. of the New York Lye. I, pl. xvi, inhabits the great lakes of North America, attaining, as it is said, the length of two and three feet. It Was first obtained from Lake Champlain. PROTEus, Laurent.-HYPOCHTON, Merr. But three toes before and only two behind. Hitherto but a single species has been discovered, Proteus anguinus, Laur. pl. IV, f. 3; Daud., VIII, xcix, 1; Siren anguina, Schn. More than a foot long, about the thickness of a finger, with a vertically compressed tail and four small legs. Its muzzle is elongated and depressed; its two jaws furnished with teeth; its tongue but slightly movable and free before; its eyes extremely small and hidden by the skin, like those of the Zemni (lYlus typhus, Pall.); the ear covered by the muscles as in the Salamanders, and the skin smooth and whitish. It is only found in some subterraneous streams, by which certain lakes in Carniola communicate with each other. The skeleton resembles that of the Salamander, except that it has many more v~rtebrre, and fewer rudiments of ribs; the bony head, however, differs altogether in its general conformation. . Finally, there are some which are possessed of fore feet only, the h1Dd ones being entirely deficient. They are {1) It is with some hesitation that I place the Axolotl among the genera with permanent branchia:, but so many witnesses assure us that it does not lose them that I am compelled to do so. VoL. ll.-M \ |
