700 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



The ovaries arc fusiform or cylindrical sacs with 

 fairly thick walls; the testes are flat, lobate, and thin- 

 walled. The kidnej'S lie as usual between the air- 

 bladder and the spinal column, forming' an anterior 

 division and a larger, posterior one, beside and behind 

 the iiii'-biadder. The urinary bladder is large, and is 

 most developed on the right side. 



The ])rincipal habitat of the Sheattish lies in tin; 

 south-east of Europe, the species being commonest in 

 Russia and Austria. It is there too, in the Caspian and 

 Black Seas and the rivers that flow into these waters, 

 that it attains its maximuiu size. According to Pallas 

 and Ghi.m.m the Sheattish occurs throughout European 

 Russia, with the exception of the basin of the White Sea 

 and its rivers. In the Danube too, especially towards 

 the mouth, the species is plentiful and of great size. In 

 the Greek Peninsula it is common, according to Aro- 

 STOLiDES, in the River Peneus, oft' Larissa, and in Li- 

 vadia. In Italv and tlie Iberian Peninsula it is wanting, 

 and also in Erance and Belgium, except in the River 

 Doubs in the extreme east of France, where it has been 

 caught occasionall)- near the town of Dole. In .Switzer- 

 land its occurrence is contined to the Lakes of Constance 

 (the basin of the Rhine) and Morat (Mui-ten), a small 

 lake east of Neuchatel, where it lives, strange enough, 

 outside its strict geographical range, which lies on the 

 other side of the Rhine. In England, as well as in 

 Scotland and Ireland, it is wanting, though repeated 

 attempts have been made to plant it there. Before 

 Haarlem Meer was drained (1836 — .53), the Sheattish, 

 according to Gronovii's, was very common in this lake, 

 which was chiefly formed, however, by an inroad of the 

 sea in the fifteenth century. It is still found in several of 

 the small lakes of Holland. In the rivers and lakes of 

 Germany the Sheattish is widely spread, and also in the 

 Baltic Provinces of Russia, according to Seidlitz. Nor 

 does it shun the brackish waters of the North, for it 

 occurs, according to Benecke, in the Haft's of Northern 

 Germany. In Finland, according to Malmghex, it is 

 found onh- in tiie lakes near Tavastehus and is very 

 seldom caught, though, according to Gadd", it attains 

 so great a size "that a yoke of oxen are required to 

 move it from the spot". Nor is the Sheattish a common 

 species in Sweden, though it occurs at many scattered 

 spots in the south-east of the country, principally in 

 three separate districts: one to the north, including 



Lakes Miilar, Hjelmar, HorsjO, and Bafven in Sdderman- 

 land and Lake Hunn in (Jstergothland: one more to the 

 east, the neighbourhood of Oscarshamn, w-here it is known 

 from Lakes Humel, Nejer, VersjO, Tvinger, Storutter, 

 Greater and Lesser RamsjO, Goten, Maren', Bodasjd (Fli- 

 seryd), and the River Emm; and one to the south, the 

 neighbourhood of Christianstad, where it is found in 

 Lakes Inimel, Ifosj5, Ousby, and the River Helge. Nils- 

 son also quotes a doubtful newspaper statement of the 

 occurrence of the Sheattish in Lake Bolmen, in Smaland. 

 In Denmark the Sheattish was common at the end of 

 the last century, according to Holm, in Lake Soro, where 

 it had probably been introduced from Germany; but it is 

 now exterminated there. It has also been taken once in 

 a river near Kjoge, into which Kroyer supposed it had 

 wandered after some roving excursion in the Baltic. 

 In Norway the Sheattish has never been found. 



The Sheattish is a sluggish but voracious fish-of- 

 prej'. Its \ery appearance is repulsive. Slimy and slijj- 

 pery as an Eel, with its broad gape, small, blinking 

 eyes, and long, warily plied barbels, it looks as though 

 fashioned especially to lie in wait for the destruction of 

 others. Its size too has rendered it an object of dread 

 even to man. An old Bohemian proverb says, "One 

 fish is another's prey, but the Sheattish eats them all;" 

 and we have ruimerous accounts of the Sheattish attack- 

 ing domestic animals and children. Hidden among the 

 rushes or in the mud, the tints of which are reproduced 

 in its coloration, it lies motionless the greater part of 

 its time, only waving its barbels to and fro, until some 

 victim approaches so near that only a sudden movement 

 is requisite to seize and devour its prey. Or one of 

 its senses tells it that a dainty morsel, some decom- 

 posing bod)' or baited hook, is not far oft', and it wrig- 

 gles thither. During a part of the 3^ear, the cold sea- 

 son, it retires to deeper water; in spring and summer, 

 till the spawning is over, it keeps to shallower spots 

 and the shore. 



The Sheattish generally leads a solitary life, though 

 not to such a degree that it does not seek company. 

 One of the authors who have most contributed to our 

 knowledge of its habits, the Dane Holm, who published 

 in 1779 his observations of the Sheattish in Lake SorO 

 in Zealand, even tells us: "The Sheattish is fond of 

 company and is therefore seldom found alone; l)ut only 

 three or four, and these always of about the same 



" Abo Tidningar, 1772, p. 366. 



'' From tliese nine lakes the observations were collected in 1890 b_v Mr 



E. SvEDMARK the 



