168 ACANTHOPTRYGII. MAIGRE FAMILY. 



— Again, Mr. White of the American navy relates, 

 that being at the mouth of the river Gambodia, his 

 crew and himself were astonished by some extra- 

 ordinary sounds which were heard around the bot- 

 tom of the vessel. " It was," says he, M like a mix- 

 ture of the bass of the organ, the sound of bells, the 

 guttural cries of a frog, and the tones which ima- 

 gination might attribute to an enormous harp ; one 

 might have said that the vessel trembled with it. 

 These noises increased, and finally formed a univer- 

 sal chorus over the entire length of the vessel and 

 the two sides. In proportion as they went up the 

 river, the sounds diminished, and finally ceased 

 altogether. The interpreter told Captain White 

 that they were produced by a troop of fishes which 

 have the faculty of adhering strongly to foreign 

 bodies by the mouth." (lb. 303). — One other illus- 

 tration we shall supply from the American shores, 

 where these fish have received the elegant name of 

 Grunts. " Every mariner," as remarked in a recent 

 communication to the British Association for the 

 Advancement of Science, " who has anchored early 

 in the spring on the coasts of Carolina, Georgia, 

 and Florida, must have been annoyed by the drum- 

 ming noise, produced in the night, apparently at 

 the bottom of the ship, and loud enough to deprive 

 the stranger of rest, until habit has rendered the 

 sound familiar." Surely the cause of these striking 

 phenomena cannot long remain a mystery. 



Gen. XIV. Sci^ena. — This genus is distinguished 

 by a divided dorsal fin, an anal with very weak 



