_Amphiuma means_ s. _tridactyla_.–The limbs are very much reduced, and end in two or three little fingers or toes. Just in front of the fore-limbs lies the pair of small gill-clefts, each guarded by two flaps of the skin. There are four branchial arches. The general colour of this eel-shaped creature is black, lighter below. The head is covered with numerous pores, arranged in several rows, which unite in the region of the neck, so that only two rows extend along the sides of the body. It reaches a length of three feet, and lives in swamps or muddy waters, for instance in the ditches of rice-fields, burrowing occasionally in the mud, feeding on crayfishes, molluscs, small fishes, etc. It is confined to the south-eastern States of North America, from Carolina to Mississippi. According to Davison,[47] copulation takes place in May. The rather hard-shelled eggs are deposited in the following August or September, and are connected by a twisted cord. The female lies about them in a coil. The embryos, which are hatched in the month of November or December, have well-developed external gills. By the following February they have {102}reached a length of from 68 to 90 mm. (about 3 inches), living in damp localities under rocks or rooted stumps, and have already lost their gills. The legs are said to be relatively longer than they are in the adult. FAM. 2. SALAMANDRIDAE (Salamanders and Newts).–Without gills in the perfect state. Maxillaries are present. Both jaws are furnished with teeth. The eyes are protected by movable lids, except in _Typhlotriton_. Fore- and hind-limbs present, although sometimes very much reduced. To this family belong by far the greater number of tailed Amphibia. They have been, for the sake of convenience, grouped into four sub-families, the determining characters of which are all internal and of comparatively slight importance. Little better is the division into _Mecodonta_, with the teeth of the palate in two longitudinal rows diverging behind and inserted upon the inner margins of the two palatine processes, which are much prolonged posteriorly, and _Lechriodonta_, in which the series of palatal teeth are restricted to the posterior portion of the vomers and form either transverse or posteriorly converging rows. I. Series of palatal teeth transverse, restricted to the posterior portion of the vomers. Parasphenoid beset with dentigerous plates. Vertebrae opisthocoelous: _Desmognathinae_, p. 102. " amphicoelous: _Plethodontinae_, p. 103. II. Series of palatal teeth transverse or posteriorly converging, restricted to the posterior portion of the vomers. Parasphenoid toothless. Vertebrae amphicoelous: _Amblystomatinae_, p. 109. III. Series of palatal teeth in two longitudinal series, diverging behind, inserted on the inner margin of the long palatine processes. Parasphenoid toothless. Vertebrae amphicoelous: _Salamandrinae_, p. 115.