Identifier: zoologicallectur21809shaw (find matches)
Title: Zoological lectures delivered at the Royal Institution in the years 1806 and 1807
Year: 1809 (1800s)
Authors: Shaw, George, 1751-1813 Mearns, Edgar Alexander, 1856-1916, former owner. DSI Royal Institution of Great Britain
Subjects: Zoology
Publisher: London : Printed for George Kearsley, by Thomas Davison
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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harpened point. It is one of the most conve-nient subjects for exhibiting a general view of thecirculation of the blood by the microscope. Having thus given a general survey of theLizards, I shall mention an animal of a somewhatdubious cast, and which has for many years beenknown to naturalists under the name of the Siren,It was first discovered by the late ingenious Dr.Garden, of Charlestown in South Carolina, whonot being able to refer it to any known ani^ial,sent a specimen to Linnasus for his opinion. Lin-njEus was so struck by the singularity of its ap-pearance and its characters, that he instituted forit a new ordef of the amphibia under the title ofMeantes. The Siren of Carolina has the generalappearance of an Eel, as to size, but has on eachside the neck a pair of ramified breathing-organsor branchiae, resembling those of water lizards intheir imperfect state: it has also two feet only,which are furnished with small claws. Some havebeen inclined to suppose this animal no other
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LECTURE VII. 33 than the larva or unadvanced state of some hi-therto unknown species of Lizard; while otherssuppose it to be a truly perfect animal, and toconstitute very properly a distinct genus. Thecelebrated Camper having from some mistakesupposed it to be without lungs, referred it to thegenus Alur^ena or Eel, considering it as a speciesof Eel differing from the rest in having ramifiedtins. A second species of Siren is a native of Europe,and is only found in the celebrated lake calledLake Circnitz or Zitticher sea, in the dutchy of Car-niola. It is somewhat more than a foot in length,and entirely of a pale rose-colour. Other species of an equally dubious or uncer-tain cast have been discovered indifferent parts ofthe w^orld, some of which are perhaps really thelarvae, or young of Lizards, while others seem trulyto constitute a distinct genus like those I have justdescribed. Another very singular animal, which Linnseusconsiders as a distinct genus, is the Draco orDragon, otherwise

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