368 Labyrinthici and Holconoti 



culum distends a little, and it appears that it is chiefly by the 

 spines of this latter piece that the fish takes a purchase on 

 the tree or ground. 'I have,' says Captain Mitchell, 'ascer- 

 tained by experiment that the mere closing of the operculum, 

 when the spines are in contact with any surface, even common 

 glass, pulls an ordinary-sized fish forwards about half an inch,' 

 but it is probable that additional force is supplied by the cau- 

 dal and anal fins, both of which, it is said, are put in use when 

 climbing or advancing on the ground; the motion, in fact, is 

 described as a wriggling one. 



"The climbing-fish seems to manifest an inclination to 

 ascend streams against the current, and we can now understand 

 how, during rain, the water will flow down the trunk of a tree, 

 and the climbing-fish, taking advantage of this, will ascend 

 against the down-flow by means of the mechanism already 

 described,, and by which it is enabled to reach a considerable 

 distance up the trunk." (Gill.) 



The Gouramis: Osphromenidae. "The Osphromenidce are fishes 

 with a mouth of small size, and destitute of teeth on the 

 palate. To this family belongs the gourami, whose praises have 

 been so often sung, and which has been the subject of many 

 efforts for acclimatization in France and elsewhere by the French. 



"The gourami (Osphromenus goramy) has an oblong, oval 

 form, and, when mature, the color is nearly uniform, but in the 

 young there are black bands across the body, and also a blackish 

 spot at the base of the pectoral fin. The gourami, if we can 

 credit reports, occasionally reaches a gigantic size, for it is 

 claimed that it sometimes attains a length of 6 feet, and weighs 

 150 pounds, but if this is true, the size is at least exceptional, 

 and one of 20 pounds is a very large fish; indeed, they are 

 considered very large if they weigh as much as 12 or 14 pounds, 

 in which case they measure about 2 feet in length. 



"The countries in which the gourami is most at home lie 

 in the intertropical belt. The fish is assiduous in the care of 

 its young, and prepares a nest for the reception of eggs. The 

 bottom selected is muddy, the depth variable within a narrow 

 area, that is, in one place about a yard, and near by several 

 yards deep. 



"They prefer to- use, for the nests, tufts of a peculiar grass 



