SHANNY. 227 



elevated spot that is out of the water, and there basks in the 

 sunshine. But in this situation it exercises so large an amount 

 of watchfulness, that on the approach of any object, and before 

 it could be supposed that the object itself was seen, the fish is 

 heard to pluns^e into the pool with an effort of agility that, in 

 regard to another species of this family, which he calls Adonis 

 and Exocoetus, and the habits ot which he describes as resembHng 

 very closely those of our Shanny, Oppian compares to what is 

 displayed by a dancing tumbler on the stage. In the pool 

 itself it quickly flies to a shelter in some crevice where it can 

 lie hid in sate concealment; nor is all this vigilance without 

 sufficient cause, for it is liable to be sought out by the sharp 

 bills of the cormorant and shag, which are often found divinof 

 in the neighbourhood of its resort. It may contribute in a 

 material degree to its safety from numerous enemies, that this 

 fish, no doubt like many others, is capable of directing its 

 eyes separately in such opposite directions as to look backward 

 and forward at the same time, as it is well known the chameleon 

 is also able to do. 



As this fish may be tamed or rendered in a slight degree 

 familiar when kept in the captivity of a tank, an opportunity 

 has thus been obtained of observing some of its habits more 

 closely, and the following notes were made from such oppor- 

 tunities. The example particularly studied was more than half 

 grown, but it obtained no increase of size for upwards of six 

 months that its imprisonment lasted, at the end of Avhich as 

 the reward of amusement afforded, it was restored to liberty 

 in its native element. It often varied in colour, from no 

 obvious cause. In warm weather it mounted on a stone in 

 the tank, and there basked itself for hours together, so that 

 in summer the full half of its time was spent out of the 

 water; but when the air grew colder it remained under water, 

 and when very cold it sought the securer shelter of a stone, 

 under which it remained until the weather became again 

 temperate or warm; but in no case were its actions in corres- 

 pondence with the ebb and flow of the tide, as popular opinion 

 would have them to be. In these instances of exposure to the 

 sun and air we discern the admirable use of the slimy covering 

 of the skin with which the author of nature has provided this 

 fish and its kindred species; for without such a protection these 



