345 



Dr. Daniel, who has lived for several years on the Gambia and on 

 Macarthy's Islands, informs me that the Lepidosiren, likę the Mud 

 Eel or true Siren, is only found in the rice-fields, which are for more 

 than half the year under water, and that they are only procured by 

 the natives towards the end of the dry season, when they are dug 

 out of the nearly-dried mud. They are eaten fried, and likę Eels 

 have a rich oily flavour. 



The habit of living in the mud is common to several Amphibia ; 

 thus the Mud-eel, or Siren lacertina, which has lungs and extemal 

 ^lls, lives chiefly in mud, being dug out when the ditches of the 

 rice-fields in CaroUna are cleared. The Hell-bender or Mud-devil 

 (Protonopsis horrida) and the Gongo Snake (Jmphiuma), which 

 have internal gills and lungs and a small lateral gill-opening, Uve 

 sunk in the mud often to the depth of 2 or 3 feet, especially in winter ; 

 and they and the Siren lacertina will live for some time out of water, 

 and are said sometimes to leave it voluntarily. 



Aąuatic animals much more frequently būry themselves in the 

 mud than is generally supposed. The common English Frogs and 

 the large Efts būry themselves in the mud during the greater part of 

 the winter, and this also is the case with Dytisci and other aąuatic 

 insects. 



But some fish also, which have only gills adapted for aąuatic re- 

 spiration, have the šame habit. Dr. Hancock observes, " When the 

 water is leaying the pools in which they commonly reside, the Yar- 

 row (a species of Esox, Linn.), as well as the round-headed Hassar 

 {Callichthys littoralis), būry themselves in the mud, while all other 

 fishes perish for want of their natūrai element, or are picked up by 

 rapacious birds. The flat-headed Hassar {Boras costata), on the con- 

 trary, simultaneously quits the place and marches overland in search 

 of water, traveUing for a whole night, as is asserted by the Indians, 

 in search of their object. I have ascertained by trial that they will 

 live many hours out of water even when exposed to the sun's rays. 

 Their motion over land is described to be somewhat hke that of a 

 two-polled lizard: they project themselves forward on their bony 

 arms by the elastic spring of the tail exserted sideways ; their pro- 

 gress is nearly as fast as a man will leisurely walk."— Zool. Joum. 

 iv. 243. 



" The Indians say that these fishes carry water vdthin them for a 

 supply on their journey. There appears to be some truth in this 

 statement, for I have observed that the bodies of the Hassar do not 

 get dry likę those of other fishes when taken out of the water ; and 

 if the moisture be absorbed, or they are wiped dry with a cloth, they 

 have such a power of secretion that they become instantly moist 

 again ; indeed it is scarcely possible to dry the surface while the fish 

 is living." — Loc. cit. 243. 



Dr. Hancock further observes, that a fish which he thinks is Lori- 

 caria pleistomus " is not only furnished with the common appendages 

 for swimming, but also with four strong bony supporters, one attached 

 to each of the pectoral and belly fins (i. e. constituting the first ray 

 of each), by which the animal creeps on the bottom of the river, and 



