338 On a new Species of Pimclodus. 



mittect in the interior of a volcano, the air is found occa- 

 sionally condensed, and that it is this condensed air which 

 contributes to raise the water and fish ; perhaps they issue 

 from a concavity distant from those which emit volcanic 

 fire; possibly, in fine, the argillaceous mud in which those 

 animals are enveloped defends them from the action of great 

 heat. Nciwithstanding all the researches that have been re- 

 cently made on volcanoes, there is nothing but the study of 

 volcanic productions that has made any progress. As to 

 the nature of the combustibles which nourish those sub- 

 terranean fires, and the mode of action of those fires them- 

 selves, I believe that all persons who have visited the bor- 

 ders of craters, and who have lived a long time in the vici- 

 nity of volcanoes, will sincerely avow,' with me, that we are 

 still verv far from being able to give an explication, which, 

 \% ithout being contrary to the principles of chemistry and of 

 physics, could account for the great phasnomcna which vol- 

 canic explosions present. 



The corregidor of the city of Ibarra, don Jose Pose Pardo^ 

 has communicated to me an interesting observation on the 

 punclodes. " It is known (says he, in a letter which I have 

 still preserved,) that the volcano of Irababuru, at the time 

 of its great eruption on the side next our city, throw out an 

 enormous quantity of prennadiUas : it even continues still 

 occasionally to do so, especially after great rains. It is ob- 

 served that these fishes actually live in the interior of the 

 mountain, and that the Indians of S. Pabla fish* for them 

 in a rivulet at the very place whence they issue from the 

 rock. This fishery does not succeed either in the day or 

 in moonlight : a very dark night is therefore necessary, as 

 the prennadillas will not otherwise come out of the volcano, 

 the interior of which is hollow." It appears, then, that the 

 light is injurious to those subterranean fishes, which are not 



* This is an assertion somewhat contrary to that of their being' very bad 

 food, and disag^reeabls in appearance. It is within the particular knowledge 

 f.f the translator, that the Spaniards of South America are both very scep- 

 tical and very witty, and that to play upon the philosophical faitli of Eu- 

 ropeans would be th''ir highest delight. He ntust therefore be pardoned for 

 regarding the letter of el Seitor Corregidor as a jeu d' esprit, en revanche for the 

 sarcastic observations of French travellers on the Spaniards. — Translator. 



1 accustomed 



