CALLICHTHYS. ] 53 



is furnished with four cirrhi, the under ones longest 

 reach to about the middle of the pectoral fins ; and 

 both are barred alternately for their whole length, 

 a marking which we have not seen noticed in any 

 description. The plates appear to be twenty-four 

 or twenty-five in number. 



Both the older and modem writers agree in the 

 facts, that fishes of this genus are capable of sur- 

 viving for a long period out of water ; that when 

 that element fails them, they have even the instinct 

 and power to travel overland in search of some 

 other pool not yet dried up; and in the want of 

 this, by burying themselves in the ground, they 

 can sustain life in a state apparently torpid, until 

 the return of the rainy season again fills the tem- 

 porary reservoirs. Nests are also formed of straws 

 and grass, where the ova are deposited ; and which 

 are watched over and defended by one or both of 

 the parents, with a solicitude which we have not 

 been accustomed to give this class of beings credit 

 for. Whether these curious properties are common 

 to the whole genus, or to what species they are 

 more particularly the attributes, does not seem yet 

 to be clearly defined ; and we would consider these 

 facts worthy still of investigation, together with a 

 more minute examination of the branchial and re- 

 spiratory structure. Ten species are indicated by 

 Valenciennes, but few remarks are given relative to 

 their habits or structure, all of which require in- 

 vestigation. One or two small species are figured 

 in the Atlas of D'Orbigny, and of one, C. levigatus 



