THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



big to be swallowed, and on whicb they 

 could get no hold whatever. 



When young puffers are fully inflated 

 with air, they are almost incapable of 

 movement, and appear like small globes 



porcupine. The spines are modified 

 scales and in some species are quite long 

 and sharp. 



Puft'ers which have been frightened 

 near the surface and are inflated wdth 



PUFFER DISTENDED V/ITH WATER. 



with the temporarily useless fins protrud- 

 ing at different angles. 



The air or water tightly filling the ab- 

 domen or the oesophagal sac is kept there 

 by a valve in the throat and can be dis- 

 charg^ed instantly. 



Some of the puffers, such as the spiny 

 species so common along our coast, are 

 thickly covered with stout spines which 

 become rigidly erected when the fish is 

 inflated. This species is often called sea 



LANTERN MADE FROM A LARGE PUFFER. 



air are easily driven by the wind and 

 often drift ashore to be thrown on the 

 beach by the waves and even rolled along 

 the sands by the wind. 



When taken from the water, puffers 

 begin to inflate at once, making distinct 

 sucking sounds until the utmost disten- 

 tion is attained. Inflated puffers placed 

 in preserving fluid sometimes die fully 

 inflated. They often die inflated on the sea 

 shore and are dried by the sun and wind. 

 It is a common practice with the Japanese 

 to make lanterns of inflated and dried 

 puffers by cutting out the back as shown 

 in the accompanying photograph of a 

 puffer "lantern" in the New York Aqua- 

 rium. A candle suspended by a wire 

 serves as a light which shows as brightly 

 through the stretched skin of the fish as 

 through a piece of oiled paper. 



In the tanks of the Aquarium the 

 puffers are rather sluggish fishes, moving 

 cliiefiy 'by their fins rather than by any 

 forceful action of their chunky bodies. 



Not the least interesting thing about 

 puffers is the fact that some species live 

 only in larg'e rivers. — Reprinted by per- 

 mission, with courtesy of use of the illus- 

 trations, from the "Zoological Society 

 Bulletin." 



