OBITUARY NOTICE OF A LUNG-FISII. 37 



ion. This limb, by the way, has lost its tip, and is being regenerated, 

 the lighter portion, as shown in the figure, having already been grown. 

 I miglit note that at the point where the injury occurred a small trans- 

 verse branch later made its appearance, but after this had grown for a 

 year or two and become one eighth of an inch in diameter, it gradually 

 degenerated and finally entirely disappeared. A characteristic move- 

 ment is illustrated in Fig. 5; here the fish, having reached the 

 end of the tank, draws back before turning in another direction. To 

 accomplish this result, the fins again operate in a quadrupedal fashion : 

 pressing on the limbs firmly, the fish recoils, pushing itself back by 

 means of its shoulder and pelvic muscles, the tail and body taking 

 little or no part in the process. In this figure we again note the strain 

 which is laid upon an extremity, for the left arm is bent almost to the 

 shoulder. 



Another characteristic movement is pictured in Fig, 6, where the 

 animal is circling around. The weight of the hinder body is supported 

 firmly by the outstretched legs, and the arms swing forward and back- 

 ward, turning the anterior part of the body. In the present position 

 the animal is on the point of again advancing, and in this event the 

 limbs will move alternately as shown in Fig. 4. Throughout these 

 varied movements the fish is slow and deliberate, reminding one rather 

 of a newt than of a fish. In the present figures attention should be 

 called to the great length of the uninjured arm, which in this small 

 specimen indicates doubtless a larval feature of the fish. Also note- 

 worthy is the position of the external gills, which stand out at the sides 

 of the head very much as they do in a larval salamander. 



From this stage onward the life of the lung-fish was a rather 

 uneventful one. It received its daily diet of earthworms with apparent 

 relish, and upon them it thrived and grew. Its yearly increase in size 

 varied between two and three inches; at the time of its death it meas- 

 ured eighteen inches. Its movements in the aquarium were like those 

 of larval salamanders, axolotl, for example. Only on rare occasions did 

 it swim in a fish-like manner by means of caudal fin and undulating 

 body, and only twice a year did it show of what sudden movements and 

 great activity it was capable. On these occasions it was taken from the 

 tank and carried to or from the New York Aquarium where, through 

 the courtesy of the officials, it was kept during the summer. Cold 

 weather, as might be inferred, it was least capable of enduring. On 

 several occasions during winters, when the temperature in the aqua- 

 rium room became less than 50° F., the fish was found in a semi- 

 torpid condition. It was then taken out and handled with scarcely 

 a movement, but was revived by immersion in warm water. It gave 

 its attendant no uneasiness on the score of appetite, for it took its 

 food with clock-like regularity. Its great difficulty, however, appeared 



