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HARBWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



to those regions shut out by ice from atmospheric 

 contact. No such conditions, however, exist with 

 regard to our mountain tarns, and yet certain it is 

 that the fish have not suffered in any way. This is a 

 problem I have not seen explained, and it would be 

 interesting to have a solution of it from some one 

 who has examined it. 



Ambleside. Piscator. 



A 



THE SHEATFISH {SILURUS GLANIS). 

 T a recent meeting of the Manchester Literary and 



Philosophical Society, Mr. John Plant, F.G.S., 

 read a paper upon "The Great Sheatfish {Silurus giants) 

 in Loch Bad-a-Luacradh," and gave a sketch of the 

 natural history of the family of the Siluridce, which 

 includes about a dozen known species, one of which, 

 the S. glanis, inhabits some of the great rivers of 

 Europe and a few of the lakes. It is most abundant 

 in the Danube, Volga, and the Rhine, and is known 

 in the largest streams which fall into the Baltic, being 

 also at times caught in the upper regions of the Baltic, 

 where the water is but slightly brackish. It has been 

 obtained from Lakes Neuchatel, Brienne, and Morat ; 

 the species is also found in North American lakes and 

 some rivers. The Sheatfish grows to an enormous 

 size in water favourable to its mode of life. Speci- 

 mens weighing seven hundred pounds are recorded 

 from the Danube, and in America the average size 

 of the adult fish is about three hundred pounds. The 

 bulk of the fishes caught in the season is of less 

 weight. The length of exceptional specimens will 

 reach to twenty or twenty-two feet ; but eight or ten 

 feet is the length of. large specimens. The general 

 appearance of the Sheatfish is like that of a bulky 

 eel ; the eyes are large and frog-like. The head 

 is unpleasant to look at, and the mouth wide ; the 

 upper lip is armed with two long worm-like feelers, or 

 barbules, which are kept in active motion, either as 

 sensitive organs of feeling, or to seize frogs and small 

 fish which come within their reach. Its habits are to 

 hide in the muddy bottoms or amongst the roots of 

 aquatic vegetation — only coming to the surface on 

 hot sunny days, after thunderstorms or when the 

 water is frozen over — to keep an air-hole open for 

 occasional fresh-air breathing. It has been attempted 

 twice to introduce its spawn or young fish in English 

 rivers ; both trials have failed, although it is a hardy 

 fish and very tenacious of life. The flesh of the 

 Sheatfish is largely eaten in the countries where it 

 abounds, but accounts differ as to its flavour and 

 qualities. At one time in season it resembles fine 

 fresh salmon in flavour, at another time white, fat, 

 soft, luscious and not easy to digest. In the restaurants 

 in the towns along the Danube, the Sheatfish is 

 cooked in so many ways that a traveller may dine 

 altogether upon this fish, and fancy he has been 

 served with a variety of soups and meats. Whether 



the Silurus was ever, or is now, native to British 

 rivers and lakes is as yet an open question ; the 

 peculiar spine which supports the pectoral fin has 

 been dug from deposits in the London clay, i.e. 

 Eocene, and Mr. Higgins, of Liverpool, found one of 

 these spines in clay under a bed of peat at Leasowes, 

 on the banks of the river Dee. So far it may have 

 lived in English rivers at more remote times. In 

 1828 a fish was caught in a river at Florence Court, 

 Ireland, which was satisfactorily proved a long time 

 afterwards by the Earl Enniskillen and Professor 

 Louis Agassiz to be a Sihirns glanis ; not a fragment 

 of the fish or its skeleton was preserved, which was 

 unfortunate, as its identification depended upon 

 memory alone and its resemblance to a drawing of 

 Silurus. Dr. Fleming notices a remark by Sibbald, 

 that the Silurus may have been seen in the Scotch 

 rivers in his day. The author then stated : " Several 

 years ago I received a letter from a gentleman re- 

 siding in the highlands of Ross describing an extra- 

 ordinary monster which had been occasionally seen 

 by his servants and tenants floating on the waters of 

 Loch Bad-a-Luacradh ' Lake of the Rushes ' near 

 the coast about Loch Eu. The people called the 

 monster a snail whale ; it seemed about twenty-two 

 feet in length, and had two flexible horns on its 

 mouth ; it was fond of basking on the surface of the 

 water, particularly after great storms, and looked very 

 much like a herring boat turned keel upwards. In 

 reply I sent a drawing and description of Silurus 

 glanis, which was at once recognised by all the people 

 who had seen the big monster as a capital portrait of 

 it. Efforts were repeatedly taken to capture the 

 monster by nets, by baiting, by shooting, but with- 

 out success, and for three winters similar endeavours 

 to capture it equally failed. It was ascertained by 

 strict inquiry amongst the native residents, that the 

 fish had been seen as far back as sixty years ago, 

 when it was much smaller. An old shepherd had 

 seen it first, a very old dame saw it thirty years ago, a 

 smuggler or illicit whisky distiller who had a bothy 

 hard by the loch often saw the monster in the quiet 

 hours of morn ; he did not like the uncanny beast as a 

 neighbour at all." Many other witnesses who gave 

 similar evidence were mentioned by the author, who 

 as well described the methods adopted to capture the 

 monster, but after much trouble and expense it 

 proved too wary and alert to be captured or even 

 to be shot, and the enterprise had to be abandoned. 

 Probably the monster died, or escaped from the loch. 



HOW TO RESTORE MlCROFHOTOGRAPIIS. — Having 



among my collection of microscopic objects some 

 badly mounted microphotographs, I shall be glad 

 to know if they can be remounted without injuring 

 the photographs. If this is possible, perhaps some 

 of your readers may know, and kindly describe the 

 process by which it may be done. — IV, H. Heasman. 



