. The Columbian magazine : or, monthly miscellany. tic state,were provided with similar opercula,or coverings to their gills; whicii alsoserve them as fins to swim with duringtills state, but which they lose, as wellas the tail fin, when they become landanimals. Hence it was thought ne^ es-say to examine the lacertas in the Bri- naeus returned an answer in January,1766, which, as it is curious, we tran-scribe here at length. * I received doctor Gardens very * rare two-footed animal with gills and * lungs. The animal is probably the * larva of some kind of lacerta, whicii * I very much desire h
. The Columbian magazine : or, monthly miscellany. tic state,were provided with similar opercula,or coverings to their gills; whicii alsoserve them as fins to swim with duringtills state, but which they lose, as wellas the tail fin, when they become landanimals. Hence it was thought ne^ es-say to examine the lacertas in the Bri- naeus returned an answer in January,1766, which, as it is curious, we tran-scribe here at length. * I received doctor Gardens very * rare two-footed animal with gills and * lungs. The animal is probably the * larva of some kind of lacerta, whicii * I very much desire he wid particu- * larly enquire into. If it does not un- * dergo a change, it belongs to the or- * derof Nantes,, which have both lungs * and gills ; and it so, it must be a new * and very distinct genus, and should * most properly have the n^.me of Si- * ren. 1 cannot possibly describe to * you how much this two-footed ani- * nial has exercised my thoughts : if * it is a larva he will no doubt iind some •* See Philos. Trans, vol, LVI. p. : ,83,. The Injfuc7ice of Riches, 13 * of them vvilh four feet-. It is not * ail easy matter to reconcile it to the * larva f ^tlie lizard tribe, its fingers * being |urnished with chins ; all the * larvas of lizards that I know are-* withiout (Dif^ifis ?nuticis.) * Then also t lie branchiae, or gills, are * not to be met with in the aquatic*? salamanders, wliich are probably the * larvas of lirards. Further, thecroak- * ing noise or sound it makes, does not * agree with t!ie larvas of those ani-*mals ; nor does the situation of the * anus: so that there is no creature * I ever saw, that I longed so much * to comprehend as this. * P. S. In a letter lately received * from doctor Garden, he mentions * one remarkable property of this ani- * mal; which is, that his servant en. * deavouring to kill one of them by * dashing it against the stones, it broke * into three or four pieces. He further * says, that he has had an opportunity * of s
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