Note on the Habits of Cercitodns for.steri. HH 



serve well enough as paddles in the water, being quite 

 incapable of sustaining the weight of the bod}^ or of assist- 

 ing in movement. You may put a Ceratodus within a few 

 feet of the water, and there it will lie perfectly passive and 

 making not the least attempt to move. When left in air 

 without being surrounded ])y damp moss or weeds, its life is 

 limited to a very few hours, eight or ten at most — a length 

 of time exceeded by both the eels and dew tish taken from 

 the same water. If kept damp, however, it will live for a 

 considerable time, and may be carried alive for long distanoes 

 in this way. 



It is most interesting, however, to watch the animal on 

 land. The gill flaps ren^ain closed, and the animal opens- 

 and closes its mouth at regular intervals in such a manner 

 as at once conveys the idea ol bi'eathing. Not onl}^ this, but 

 when in the water it comes at intervals to the surface and 

 expires and inspires air. In the evening, when seated by 

 the edge of a pool, one can hear what the fishermen of the 

 district call a " spouting," and which is due, as in the case 

 of the whale, only on a much smaller scale, to the expiration 

 of air just as the animal reaches the surface. I was not 

 able to actually see the Ceratodus doing this, but was assured 

 by several who were well acquainted with its habits that 

 the noise was made by the Ceratodus. 



When the season is very drj- and a comparatively small 

 [)Ool is chosen, it is possible, by continuously stirring up the 

 nmd and sand, to choke the fish but at the same time, 

 though the latter are killed, the Ceratodus will continue 

 alive. 



Now, if we take into consideiation the nature of the 

 country through which the Burnett River runs and the fact 

 that the Ceratodus does not require to, and practically nevei' 

 does, leave the water pools, we may gain some idea of what 

 is at all events one chief use, if not the main one, of the 

 lung structure. 



In the rainy season the 3reeks, dry in sunmier, become 

 (Converted into roaring torrents ; the river rises suddenly, as 

 much sometimes as fifty feet in a very few days, and down 

 from the hills and the country round an enormous amount 

 of sand is swept suddenly into the water. When once the 

 big sand banks of the River have been seen in dry weather 

 it is easy to realize what a vast amount of sand mu.st l)e 

 swept down into the stream at flood time every year and of 



