152 ACANTHOPTERYGII. — OPHIOCEPHALID^. 



in the previous season ; though it is difficult to 

 imagine that perfect fishes can sustain life for 

 several weeks or months v^ithout w^ater. The 

 common Hindoos stoutly maintain that they are 

 precipitated from the clouds with the falling 

 rains. 



These fishes have, in general, the abdominal 

 cavity very short, the tail commencing near the 

 head, and being much lengthened ; the fins are 

 sometimes singularly developed. The genus 

 Ophiocephalus has the body cylindrical and length- 

 ened, with a head much like that of a snake. 



Genus Macropodus, (Lacep.) 



We find in this small genus an extraordinary 

 development of the fins ; the caudal is excessively 



ELEGANT LONG- FIN. 



large, deeply lunate or forked, larger in fact than 

 in any other known fish. The dorsal and anal 

 have the final soft rays gradually lengthened 

 and terminating in filaments ; the ventrals have 



