254 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. 



canal, which is many times folded on itself, it does not 

 confine itself to any special plants, nor, indeed, to the vege- 

 table kingdom, for its supply of food, and on account of its 

 miscellaneous feeding has obtained from the French the 

 epithet of water pig, or Pore des rivieres. Besides the 

 leaves of the Pistia, already mentioned, and all other 

 species of aracese which it seeks with avidity, it will eat 

 cabbage, radish, carrot, turnip and beet leaves, lettuce, and 

 most of the wild plants which grow in the water, nor does 

 it refuse earth-worms, frogs, or even cooked meats. 



In its movements, the gourami is usually slow, swimming 

 leisurely and majestically along, and takes its time in mak- 

 ing its meal ; it is, however, capable of rapid movements, 

 and when frightened or disturbed, will dart away with 

 great swiftness ; when first confined in narrow quarters, it 

 will also attempt to escape by leaping out of the water. 

 It will take the hook baited with worms. 



In its sexual relations, and the care which it takes of its 

 eggs, it somewhat resembles the sunfishes of temperate 

 North America and the Cichlids of the warmer portions 

 of the continent and of Africa. In spawning-time, the 

 males and females pair, and each pair select a suitable 

 place and construct a rude nest. " Like all intelligent 

 animals, it will only propagate when it is insured a suitable 

 temperature for its eggs and young a fit retreat wherein 

 to build its nest, with vegetation and mud to make it, and 

 the aquatic plants suitable for the food of the young. The 

 bottom must be muddy, and the depth variable; in one 

 place at least a yard, or metre, and convenient to it, several 

 metres deep. It prefers to make its nest in tufts of the 

 grass called Panicum Jumentorum, which grow on the sur- 

 face of the water, and whose floating roots, which rise and 

 fall with the tide, form natural galleries, under which the 

 fish may conceal itself." In one of the corners of the 



