MALACOPTERYGII ABDOMINALES. 46? 



fresh waters of Europe, Asia, and Africa. It more particu- 

 larly inhabits the rivers of Germany and Hungary, where it 

 covers itself in the mud to surprise its prey. It has very 

 rarely been found in the sea, and even then only in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the mouth of great rivers, from which some 

 fortuitous circumstances appear to have drawn it. 



This silurus is the largest of all the fresh-water fishes of 

 Europe, and the only one of the genus found in this quarter 

 of the globe. Six, twelve, and even fifteen feet long, and 

 weighing three, and even four hundred pounds ; it has been 

 named the whale of the rivers and lakes by some observers, 

 who were pleased to believe that it domineered and 

 reigned in the fresh-waters like the mighty cetacea in the 

 ocean. 



It does not attain its entire devclopement until after a great 

 number of years, but then swimming, and appearing to move 

 its ponderous mass with difficulty, it excites astonishment, 

 surprise, and terror, by its enormous dimensions. One of 

 these monstrous animals has been seen in Pomerania, whose 

 throat could easily give passage to a child of six or seven 

 years of age. Another was taken at Writzen on the Oder, 

 which weighed four hundred pounds. 



It is supported by prey, but it docs not pursue its victims. 

 Preferring stratagem to violence, it remains in ambuscade, 

 covers itself with mud, and patiently watches for the fish 

 which are to constitute its sustenance. 



It quits the bottom of the rivers only for a month or two, 

 and it is usually towards spring that it appears on the surface 

 of the water, or proceeds to spawn near the shores. The 

 number of its eggs is by no means proportioned to its 

 volume. 



The strong spine which forms the first ray of its pectoral 

 fins is so articulated with the shoulder, that it can at will be 

 approximated to the body, or fixed perpendicularly in an 



H h 2 +_ 



