26 PALEONTOLOGY OF OHIO. 



gave another bite, proceeding in tliis fashion until it had subjected the 

 entire morsel to tlie same treatment. 



" It then suddenly shot out the meat, caught it as before by the tip, and 

 repeated the same process. After a third such manoeuvre, it swallowed 

 the morsel with a quick jerk. The animal always w-ent through this 

 curious series of operations, never swallowing the meat until after the 

 third time of masticating. 



" After a while, it was thought that the water in which it lived was not 

 sufficiently warm to represent the tepid streams of its native land, and 

 its tank M^as consequently sunk in the north basin of the building, where 

 the water is kept at a tepid heat for the purpose of nourishing the tropi- 

 cal plants which grow in it. 



" It remained here for some time, and being deprived of its ordinary 

 supply of raw beef, took to foraging for itself. The gold-fish, with which 

 the basin was stocked, became its victims, and it was quite as destructive 

 as an otter would have been. It had a fancy for attacking the largest 

 fishes ; and though apparently slow in its movements, could catch any 

 fish on which it had set its Welshes. As the fish M-as quietly swimming 

 about, suspecting no evil, the Lepidosircn would rise very quietly beneath 

 it until quite close to its victim, just as the terrible ground-shark rises to 

 take its prey. It then made a quick dart with open mouth, seized the 

 luckless fish just bj the pectoral fin, and with a single effort l)it entirely 

 through the skin, flesh, and bones, taking out a piece exactly the shape 

 of its mouth, and then sinking to the bed of the basin with its plunder. 

 The poor fish was never chased, but was suffered to float about in a half- 

 dead state, and numbers of mutilated gold-fish were taken out of the basin. 



" Not choosing to supply a succession of gold-fish, out of each of which 

 the fastidious creature would only take one bite, the superintendent be- 

 thought himself of frogs, and fed the animal regularly with these ba- 

 trachians. But having been wai-ned, by the effect on the gold-fish, not to 

 trust his fingers within reach of the teeth that could inflict such very 

 effective bites, he got a long stick, cleft one end of it, put one hind foot 

 of the frog into the cleft, and held it on the surface of the water, so 

 that the struggles of the intended victim should agitate the surface. 



" No sooner did the frog begin to splasli than the Lepidosii-en rose 

 rapidly beneath it, seized it in its mouth, dragged it off the stick like a 

 pike striking at a roach, and sunk to the bottom witli its prey. Not a 

 ■ vestige of the frog was ever seen afterwards. 



As has been remarked elsewhere, no traces of scales have been found 

 witli the remains of Ditiichthys, and it is almost certain that it was not 

 provided with scales; in this respect, as in many others, resembling 

 CoccosteKs. 



