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Rh would rather induce the presumption that they are carnivorous, and devour living prey. They are said to bury themselves in the moist earth, or in the soft mud of marshy places, burrowing through it like earth-worms, which they much resemble, often several feet below the surface. Their motion on the ground is said to be slow, but in the water they swim with facility, with lateral undulations. In these particulars they agree with the Amphibia which we have recently noticed; but with the curious diversity of relation that marks these doubtful animals, their reproduction, on the other hand, carries back our thoughts to the Angues and Typhlopes, for like these, the Cæciliæ are ovoviviparous. M. Leperieur, during his stay at Cayenne, having procured a living specimen, which he placed in a vessel filled with water, saw it bring forth, in the space of some days, from five to seven young, perfectly similar to their mother. MM. Duméril and Bibron, who give us this information, remark on it, that the fecundation of the ova in this Order, must be effected within the interior of the body; and that the metamorphosis must take place in the body of the mother, as in the case of the Black Salamander of the Alps. M. Müller's observation of branchiæ in the Leyden specimen, however, is adverse to this last conclusion.

Nine species are described, arranged in three genera; the greater number of these are found in the warm regions of America; two are natives of India, and one of the American species is found also in the Seychelles Islands, in the Indian Ocean.