64 THE AQUARIUM. 
when I saw this creature of the water, which, with 
its fin-like tail, and other appendages, was evidently 
intended for a denizen of that element, quietly crawl 
up a stick which was standing in the vessel, and, 
emerging from the water, remain quietly attached to 
the support it had selected, at some inches above the 
surface of the element it thus so strangely and sud- 
denly quitted. Its determination appeared the more 
astonishing, as I soon perceived its finny tail, its legs, 
and at last the whole of its skin, gradually hardened 
and blackened, and it appeared to have shared the 
natural fate of a fish out of water. After watching 
it for some days, without perceiving any further 
change, other matters occupied my attention, and I 
entirely forgot the fate of my voracious pet, which 
had met such an untimely end in consequence of 
rashly leaving the proper sphere of its existence. 
“Some little time afterwards I was about to empty 
the jar, and throw away the stick to which the dried 
and hardened form of the victim to getting out of 
bounds was still attached, when I thought I perceived 
a division in the blackened skin of the back. As I 
saw that the opening widened, my curiosity became 
again excited, and I determined to watch and see if 
any other change would follow. ‘Taking a book, 
therefore, I sat down near the object of my attention. 
I had not read many pages, turning frequently to- 
wards the remains upon the stick, when suddenly— 
I shall never forget the surprise of the moment— 
when suddenly the opening of the back was much 
widened, as by some sudden effort, and the greater 
a ee —— 
ee ee ee ee 
