ment with what certainty his appreciation of characters, of their value, their subordination, or their incompatibility, directed him in this difficult discussion. We there distinguish plainly the method which directed him in connecting numerous exotic genera, often such as were imperfectly known, and which he has classed, almost always so happily, in his immortal work. The last of these papers that was published by A. L. De Jussieu appeared in 1820, in the sixth volume of the Memoirs of the Museum. It had for its subject the family of the Rubiaceæ, of which it showed all the genera, distributed and described as the author intended they should be in the new edition which he then projected of the Genera Plantarum, for which he was constantly collecting materials. This last work, published at the age of seventy-two, is worthy of that of 1789: we find there the same order, the same clearness of ideas, the same simple and precise arrangement. From this period, Antoine Laurent De Jussieu, whose sight had so much failed him as to render it necessary he should confine himself to studying the labours of others, and renounce the examination of nature, has only furnished the science with some articles inserted in the Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles, both upon families and upon plants cited by travellers under their vulgar name, and which he had applied himself to restoring to their genus or their family. The materials he has deposited in this collection were what he had been a long time employed in obtaining, and in which we still recognise a man who joins an acquaintance with nature to an erudition the most extensive. We ought to point out in this collection the article Méthode Naturelle, published in 1824, in which the same great naturalist has displayed, with his usual clearness, the history of the natural method in botany, and the principles upon which it rests. At length, in the later years of his life, from the year 1826, a son worthy of himself having supplied his place in the functions he exercised in the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, he passed a great part of the year in the country, and divided his time between the perusal of the most modern works upon botany, and the arrangement and analysis of those among his works which appeared to him most important to the science. Combining recent discoveries with the knowledge acquired during his long career, he made them the subject of a new edition of the Introduction to his Genera Plantarum. We find in this Prooemium, written in the clear and elegant Latin of the introduction to the Genera, a part of the ideas held by its author in 1789, especially with regard to classification; but we see that he has remained a stranger to none of the discoveries of modern anatomy and physiology; for he thought that all should concur to the completion of the natural method, to which all parts of vegetable organisation could serve as a basis. Even to the last days of his life, he occupied himself in retouching this work, which carried him back to his past studies, and was a pleasant occupation of mind. At this period, his extremely weakened sight being no longer able to direct his fingers, he was often obliged to have recourse to another's hand: but he did not cease his employment. We are persuaded that this last work of so illustrious a man, written at the age of eighty-three and eighty-four years, and notwithstanding worthy of its author's best years, will be read with interest by naturalists, who will take pleasure in comparing this final performance with that which serves as an introduction to the Genera of 1789. It is, besides, a homage due to the memory of one of those men who have contributed most to render our country illustrious; and we are happy to be able to append this production to the present notice. If the works of M. De Jussieu place him in the first rank among men of science, we may also cite him as a model for the sweetness of his character. Full of kindness for all those who gave themselves up to the study of science, encouraging those who distinguished themselves there, entirely devoted to the progress of botany, seeking only truth, acknowledging his own errors with candour, and pointing out those of others without bitterness, he was never drawn into the polemics of science; we cannot quote, either in his principal work or his numerous published papers, an expression which might be wounding to any of his contemporaries; and yet he has done more for the advancement of science than many of those who have engaged in contest in support of their ideas. His were true: they had no need to be vehemently upheld left to themselves, they have penetrated by little and little into science, and have ended by being every where admitted. By this means, he had the happiness of joining to the respect which his superiority as a naturalist merited the friendship of all the men who could appreciate it; and the young, for whom he was full of benevolence, showed a veneration truly filial. Surrounded with testimonies of respect and regard, entirely devoted to the study of science, and never extending his ambition beyond this circle; happy in the bosom of a numerous family, and seeing himself revive, as it were, in a son who sustained his name worthily, and who, during his lifetime, had become his colleague and successor, he ran his long career with a prosperity which he owed as much to himself as to the circumstances in which he was placed; until, at the age of eighty-eight years, a short and scarcely painful illness closed, without effort, a life so well and peacefully spent, on the 15th of September, 1836. ART. II. On the Snake-like Proteus (Proteus anguinus Lam.*) By VIATOR. As I think a sketch of that most singular and rare amphibious animal, the Snake-like Proteus, would not be altogether devoid of interest to some of the readers of the Magazine of Natural History, I will therefore make no apology for sending it to you. Cuvier, in his first edition (1817) of the Animal Kingdom, placed the genus Pròteus among the frog-like animals "les Batraciens," which constitute the fourth order of his third class of Vertebrata, Reptiles. I, however, consider that this arrangement is liable to many objections, not only in the application of the term reptile to this animal, but also for other reasons, which I need not here detail at length. I propose classing it in a fourth division of Vertebrata, under the old Linnæan name Amphibia, instead of referring it to that of the Reptilia Cuv.; thus: VERTEBRATA. Class IV. AMPHIBIA. Order Manentibránchia Mihi. Family Protèidæ Mihi. Branchiæ permanent. Before I give any account of my own observations on this remarkable animal, which may be properly termed, “branchipneumonian" (i. e. gill-lunged, breathing both by gills and lungs), I will add the following accurate description, which the same illustrious anatomist has given at p. 102. of the Règne Animal, and which I have translated as follows: "This genus is formed, at present, by only a single species, the Proteus anguìnus Laur., or Siren anguina Schn. The animal is more than a foot in length, about equal to a finger in thickness, having its tail compressed vertically, with four little legs, of which the fore feet have three, and the hinder only two, toes. Besides internal lungs, it bears, like the larvæ *The author of this article upon the Proteus has not made us acquainted with his name; and we would assign this as a reason to him for having so long postponed its insertion. Should he favour us with any more communications, we hope he will not wish them to appear anonymously; especially if, like the present, characters are introduced with "Mihi" appended to them. VOL. I.- No. 12. N. s. Z Z or young of the salamander (Salamándra Brong.), three branchiæ, or gills, upon each of its sides, in the form of tufts, which it evidently retains during the whole of its life. The cartilaginous arcs, and the membranous lid, are also the same as in those larvæ. Its muzzle is elongate and flattened; both jaws furnished with teeth; its tongue is capable of being a little moved, and is loose in the fore part. The eye is excessively small, and nearly hidden by the skin, as is the case with the mole-rat (Mús typhlus); its ear is likewise covered by the skin, like that of the salamander. The skin is smooth and nearly white. It is only to be found in the subterraneous waters which communicate with some of the lakes in Carniola. The skeleton of the Proteus resembles that of the salamander, with the exception of its having a good many more vertebræ, but fewer rudiments of ribs. Its bony head, indeed, is altogether different in its general conformation from that of the Salamándridæ.” Next, the characters I will briefly state somewhat thus: Protèida Mihi. Body much lengthened, with a tail. Legs four; fore feet having three toes, hind feet only two. Proteus. Tail compressed vertically. Both jaws with teeth. Eyes extremely minute, scarcely visible. Proteus anguinus. Body quite smooth, naked, very long, serpentiform, yellowish-white, tinged more or less with pink. Branchiæ ramified, crimson. Hab. In deep waters amongst subterranean caverns and grottoes of the limestone mountains in Carniola and Illyria, in Central Europe. It was in the subterraneous pools in the beautiful Magdalen Grotto, distant about two miles from Adelsberg, in the province of Carniola, about half-way between Laybach and Trieste, that Dr. Laurenti discovered this strange creature. He bestowed on it the names of Proteus anguìnus, and first made it known to the naturalists of that day. After that learned zoologist, it has been described by Scopoli, Hermann, Linnæus, Schneider, Schreibers, Rudolfi, Cuvier, Rusconi, Configliacchi, Davy, Agapito, and others. But of these, I believe, Rudolfi, Schreibers, Cuvier, and Configliacchi have examined its internal conformation by means of skilful dissections, and thus have they most carefully ascertained its anatomical structure. In general appearance, the Proteus resembles a lizard; but is much longer, and more serpentiform; the hind legs farther apart from the fore legs, the body more cylindrical, about an inch in diameter, and nearly all of the same thickness. Its head is rather flattened, with the muzzle elongated, obtuse, and compressed, wherein it is not unlike that of a pike. The mouth is large; both the upper and lower jaw are furnished with little teeth; the eyes so small, that they are scarcely to be discerned, without looking close on the head; when two black specks are perceptible, and which are covered with the skin. Six branchiæ, or gills, through which it breathes like a fish, are fixed on the sides; three on one side of the occiput, and three on the other. In form, these are like to little plants, or pieces of coral, and constitute a sort of semicircular crest at the back of the head. Under the gills, on each side, there are two narrow branchial apertures. The fore feet are rather stouter and firmer than the hind: they each have three little toes; but the hind feet are more slender and shorter, and have each only two toes. All the toes are without claws or nails. The body is usually about a foot long, and is a little compressed on the sides, but thickest towards the tail, which is much flattened vertically, and is in the shape of a spatula, with the skin terminating in a membranaceous edge. Its colour is of a yellowish white, tinged with flesh-colour: on the sides of the body, and especially on the tail, the pink inclines to violet. The branchial tufts are much ramified, of a red or crimson colour, and varying greatly in intenseness. The skin is remarkably transparent, smooth, and entirely lubricated with a viscid mucus, and sometimes covered with minute reddish dots. The pink hue on the body of this animal changes and becomes violet-brown, more or less quickly in proportion as it is exposed to the light. Its food principally consists of snails, small Mollúsca, worms, slugs, and water insects. In its motions it is nearly allied to the common eel. It is greatly affected by the changes of weather, and is said in the winter to become torpid, rolling itself in holes and crevices of the rocks, and, perhaps, burrowing under the mud. From their being so susceptible of atmospheric variations, the Benedictine Monks at Sittich (where it is sometimes found) used to keep several Protei in glasses, in the place of barometers, for the purpose of indicating the state of the weather; because in fine weather they are very lively, and swim about a good deal, putting their noses and mouths out of the water, as if to inhale the air into their lungs; whilst in bad weather they keep at the bottoms of the glasses and remain perfectly quiet. The vast depth below ground at which the Protei are wont to live will readily account for their being so remarkably capable of feeling the changes of the weather, when they are brought upon the surface of the earth; for it is chiefly in a small lake, about 40 ft. in width, which is supposed to terminate the innermost extremity of the Magdalen Grotto, at the depth of about 1200 ft., that they are most commonly found, and are caught by means of |