After the earth has been chiseled awaj- down to the brown 

 cocoon which contains the fish. At one point this cocoon 

 shows the pit through which the fish is breathing. The 

 pit leads into a tube of hardened slime which goes into the 

 fish's mouth and conducts the air directly into the lung 



The cocoon seen from the side when nearly separated 

 from the mass of earth. It Is of papery texture and is 

 formed of hardened layers of slime secreted by the fish's 

 body 

 252 



expose the side of the 

 capsule within which 

 the fish is tightly coiled. 

 The whole mass is then 

 placed in tepid water 

 to soften the wall of 

 the capsule (which was 

 formed by mucous se- 

 cretion on the surface 

 of the fish's body) and 

 thus to allow the fish 

 to escape. Within a 

 few minutes after the 

 present cocoon had been 

 placed in water, the 

 papery wall or shell 

 showed movements, but 

 before the fish broke its 

 way out, a trap door 

 was cut in the side of 

 the capsule so that a 

 photograph could be 

 taken. The mass was 

 then again placed in 

 water and within a 

 few minutes the fish 

 emerged. 



This lungfish is now 

 exhibited in an aqua- 

 rium on the fourth floor 

 of the Museum in the 

 hall of fossil fishes. It 

 has been placed there 

 since it is at home, sci- 

 entifically speaking, a- 

 mong fishes which lived 

 millions of years ago 

 and whose race is al- 

 most extinct. It fur- 

 nishes, in fact, an ex- 

 cellent instance of the 

 survival of a race of 

 animals from a very 

 ancient period of time. 

 It has further claim to 

 our interest, for we can 

 safely say that a lung- 



