334 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



is to the development of instincts. And we may close by naming the 

 ants and bees as instances of the extreme unfoldment of the instinctive 

 powers, man as an instance of the greatest checking of instinct and 

 development of the reasoning faculties. 



FISH OUT OF WATER. 



By GKANT ALLEN. 



STROLLING one day in what is euphemistically termed, in equa- 

 torial latitudes, "the cool of the evening," along a tangled tropi- 

 cal American field-path, through a low region of lagoons and water- 

 courses, my attention happened to be momentarily attracted from the 

 monotonous pursuit of the nimble mosquito by a small animal scuttling 

 along irregularly before me, as if in a great hurry to get out of my 

 way before I could turn him into an excellent specimen. At first 

 sight I took the little hopper, in the gray dusk, for one of the com- 

 mon, small green lizards, and wasn't much disposed to pay it any dis- 

 tinguished share either of personal or scientific attention. But, as I 

 walked on a little farther through the dense underbrush, more and 

 more of these shuffling and scurrying little creatures kept crossing the 

 path, hastily, all in one direction, and all, as it were, in a formed body 

 or marching phalanx. Looking closer, to my great sui'prise I found 

 they were actually fish out of water, going on a walking-tour, for 

 change of air, to a new residence — genuine fish, a couple of inches 

 long each, not eel-shaped or serpentine in outline, but closely resem- 

 bling a red mullet in miniature, though much more beautifully and 

 delicately colored, and with fins and tails of the most orthodox spiny 

 and prickly description. They were traveling across-country in a bee- 

 line, thousands of them together, not at all like the helpless fish out of 

 water of popular imagination, but as unconcernedly and naturally as 

 if they had been accustomed to the overland route for their whole life- 

 times, and were walking now on the king's highway without let or 

 hindrance. 



I took one up in my hand and examined it more carefully ; though 

 the catching it wasn't by any means so easy as it sounds on paper, for 

 these perambulatory fish are thoroughly inured to the dangers and 

 difliculties of dry land, and can get out of your way when you try to 

 capture them with a rapidity and dexterity which are truly surprising. 

 The little creatures are very pretty, well-formed cat-fish, with bright, 

 intelligent eyes, and a body armed all over, like the armadillo's, with 

 a continuous coat of hard and horny mail. This coat is not formed of 

 scales, as in most fish, but of toughened skin, as in crocodiles and alli- 

 gators, arranged in two overlapping rows of imbricated shields, ex- 



