2i6 The Ottawa Naturalist. [Feb 



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fishes of Egypt, affirms that three species of mullet reached a large 

 size and were of finer flavour after retention in fresh water than those 

 in salt or brackish water. In Florida red fish ( Pagnis) confined 

 in a fresh-water lake were found 38 pounds in weight, and im- 

 proved in delicacy of flavour, while numerous other marine species 

 survived the change, but some sharks and sting-rays succumbed, 

 owing, it was surmised, to the winter cold of 1885. The shark tribe 

 are essentially marine, and ill-able to adapt themselves to non- 

 marine surroundings. I know of one record only of a marine 

 species found far from the ocean, viz., a questionable instance of 

 a dogfish, which was stated to have followed the salmon schools 

 for a distance of 1,500 miles from the Pacific shore. The fish was 

 recorded to have been killed up the Bruno River, Nevada, by the 

 wheel of a waggon crossing a ford. There are, it is true, some 

 fresh-water sharks, like Carcharias gangetica in the Ganges, and 

 the Senegal saw-fish, also Indian and South American rays 

 {Narcine, Torpedo, &c.). Certain whales also are non-marine, 

 such as the small Platanista gangetica in the Ganges, and Inia and 

 Pontoporia, belonging to the Grampus and Porpoise family, and 

 found in the Amazon and other South American rivers. The white 

 beluga ascends the St. Lawrence for 150 miles, and goes up the 

 Saguenay River for some distance. 



The carps, of which our suckers and mullets are examples, 

 are credited with much plasticity. The German carp can not only 

 endure but survive changes of a remarkable character, living in 

 mud and existing far from lakes or streams for a long period. 

 Certain suckers can endure alkaline and other chemical impurities, 

 and an extraordinarily high temperature. In that wonderful 

 volcanic geyser area, the Yellowstone Park, Professor Jordan 

 found suckers and chubs in water of 85° F. and 88"^ F. and 

 young trout in a temperature of about 75<^ F. 



The catfish and bull-heads are notoriously tenacious of life. 

 Thoreau, indeed, said that Ameiurus nebulosus opens and shuts its 

 mouth for half an hour after its head has been cut off; but there 

 are only one or two questionable instances of their surviving 

 removal from favourable surroundings. More experiments are, 

 however, desirable. If, as Bloch stated, the delicate grayling 

 {ThymalLus) can flourish in brackish water, contrary to Sir 



