THE LEPIDOSIREN. 181 



In fact, the position in which these creatures are placed depends wholly on the amount of 

 importance given to the reptilian or piscine characters. 



THE species known by the name of LEPIDOSIREN, or MUD-FISH, is found in Africa, inhab- 

 iting the beds of muddy rivers. 



The habits of this creature are very remarkable. Living in localities where the sun 

 attains a heat so terrific during a long period of the year that the waters are dried and even 

 their muddy beds baked into a hard and stony flooring, these animals would be soon extirpated 

 unless they had some means of securing themselves against this periodical infliction, and 

 obtaining throughout the year some proportion of that moisture for lack of which they would 

 soon die. The mode of self-preservation during the hot season is very like that which has 

 already been mentioned in the case of certain frogs and other similar creatures, but is marked 

 by several curious modifications. 



When the hot season has fairly commenced, and the waters have begun to lessen in 

 volume, the Lepidosiren wriggles its way deeply into the mud, its eyes being so constructed 

 that the wet soil cannot injure them, and the external nostrils being merely two shallow blind 

 sacs. After it has arrived at a suitable depth, it curls itself round, with its tail wrapped 

 partly over the head, not unlike the peculiar attitude assumed by fried whitings, except that 

 its flexible spine enables it to squeeze the two sides closer together than can be accomplished 

 in that fish, and in that position awaits the coming rains. It will lie in a torpid condition for 

 a very considerable space of time, depending entirely on the advent of rain for the re-assump- 

 tion of vitality. 



After it has curled itself up and resigned itself to the exigencies of its condition, a large 

 amount of a slimy substance is secreted from the body, which has the effect of making the 

 walls of its cell very smooth, and probably aids in binding the muddy particles together. 

 When the rains fall, the moisture penetrates rapidly through the fissures of the earth, cracked 

 in all directions by the constant heat, reaches the cell of the Lepidosiren, dissolves its walls, 

 and restores the inhabitant to life and energy. 



Several specimens have been brought to Europe, most of which I have had opportunities 

 of seeing while alive, as well as of examining parts of their structure after death. 



While retained in an ordinary aquarium, it passes much of its time in an apparently semi- 

 torpid condition at the bottom of the tank, generally seeking the darkest corner and squeezing 

 itself along one of the perpendicular angles of the case. It was found, however, that whenever 

 the surface of the water was disturbed, the creature woke up, as it were, and rose to see what 

 was the matter. In this way it could be induced to come at a signal to take the food on which 

 it lived. 



Further investigations and experiments on a larger scale, afforded a considerable insight 

 into the habits of this singular creature. 



Several batches of these animals have been kept alive, all of which have died, some after 

 a life of only a few weeks, and others after surviving for three years. It will, however, be 

 useless to follow the fortunes of each separate individual, and we will therefore only examine 

 the general habits which seem to be common to all. 



The Lepidosirens, or Mud-fish as they are popularly called, were sent while still in 

 their muddy nests, or "cocoons," according to the technical term, and, in one instance, 

 three specimens were inclosed in a single lump of hard mud, weighing when dry about twenty 

 pounds. 



One of the cocoons is now lying before me, together with the dried and shrivelled body of 

 its former inhabitant, still curled up in the singular fashion already mentioned. The walls 

 of the cocoon are composed of a thick, grayish clay, quite hard and dry, and intermixed here 

 and there with remnants of vegetable matter. The hollow in which the Lepidosiren resided is 

 quite smooth in the interior, but gives no idea of the real shape of the inhabitant, the cell 

 seeming to be somewhat large, most probably on account of the coat of mucous substance 

 with which it was lined, and part of which is to be seen still adhering, like flakes of dry mem- 

 brane, to the sides of the cell. 



