Another curious batrachian, the mud eel, is found in Carolina, in marshy
situations. Its total length is about three feet. The head is small,
as is the eye, while on each side of it are three beautifully plumed
gill-tufts. It has no hind-legs; while the front pair are very small,
and do not aid it in moving along the ground. This it does in the
wriggling fashion of an eel; indeed, when discovered in the soft mud in
which it delights to live, the creature, at the first glance, would be
taken for an eel. It has many of the habits of that animal, living on
worms and insects; indeed, it is difficult to say whether it should be
classed with eels or batrachians. It is, however, a true amphibian,
respiring either in the water by means of branchiae, or in the air by
means of lungs. It approaches, in the structure of its head, to the
salamanders, though much less so in its general form and proportions.
The curious "axolotl," which we shall meet with in Mexico, belongs to a
closely allied genus.