422 PAEENTAL CARE AMONG FRESH- WATER FISHES. 



ing, a series of air-bubbles is generally expelled from the branchial 

 apertures on each side of the anterior part of the body. The whole 

 body is covered with a viscous or ghiey substance, which fills the 

 water with whitish flakes when the Dipnoan executes more rapid and 

 violent evolutions." 



The breeding season follows with the rainy season and " within 

 the first few weeks after liberation from the mud," in which the 

 Lepidosirens have been imprisoned during the dry season. On the 

 approach of the breeding season the papilla? of the ventral limbs of 

 the males grow out " into blood-red filaments one or two inches long." 

 A sort of nest is made " in an underground burrow " excavated at 

 the bottom of the swamp, and therein the eggs are laid by the female, 

 but " apparently usually guarded by the male " alone. 



The progress of eggs and young were watched by Kerr. 



Eventually tli<n-e liatehed out a tadpole-like larva, devoid of pi.i^meuts, the 

 horny esjsishell undergoing a process of . digestion before splitting. The 

 larvte were remarkable for the extremely well-developed sucker and the 



Fig. 15. — Larval Lri)idofiircn thirty days after hatchiuj;-. c, Cement organ ; c.y, 

 cutaneous gills; p.l, pectoral limb; pr.l, pelvic limli. After Graham Kerr. 



large external gills (strikingly amphibian characters said to be absent in Ger- 

 atodus). The external gills were four in number on each side. About six 

 weeks after hatching the external gills atrophied, as did also the sucker ; the 

 creature assumed a much darker, almost black, colour, and its habits became 

 much more active. The young Lepidosireu remained in its nest till about 60 

 mm. [about 2i inches] long. For nearly three months it lived in the yolk in the 

 walls of the enteron, but did not eat at all. About this time yellow spots ap- 

 peared on the larva, and it remained so spotted till over one foot long. The 

 young Lepidosirens had proportionately larger limbs than the adult, and used 

 them much in irregular alternation in clambering through the mud. 



The Indians in the neighborhood of its haunts depend largely on 

 the Lepidosirens, as well as other fishes caught in the pools. The 

 Lepidosiren can not be caught with nets (on account of the weeds), 

 nor, commonly, by hook and line. They are mostly obtained by a 

 spear or harpoon of about 8 feet In length. " The Indians plunge 

 into the water in parties, prodding the bottom of the pools with these 

 instruments." Doctor Bohls himself went out with a party of ten 

 Indians. The ovaries of the Lepidosiren are preferred as an article 

 of food to the salmon-like flesh, and are pressed into a kind of c^ke. 



