INTRODUCTION. 61 



tolianusj, and the dragon- weever (Traclimus 

 draco)) lie, in general, wholly or partially covered 

 with sand ; the former often at the depth of a foot 

 or more, with its slender body rolled up into a 

 spiral form. Under these circumstances, however, 

 the fishes in question are not wholly removed from 

 the influence of the water which is above them ; 

 and they can therefore be regarded as inhabitants 

 of the water only, though completely immersed in 

 the mud and sand at its bottom. 



But there are also fishes which are capable of alto- 

 gether deserting, for a time, their natural element, 

 and becoming temporary denizens of the earth and 

 air. Thus, eels are well known frequently to crawl 

 along the grass, during the night, from one piece 

 of water to another; and, if we can credit every 

 thing that is printed, we have still more extraor- 

 dinary tales reported, such as rooting up seeds and 

 pease in their tract, and nestling under hay-ricks 

 to avoid the cold* ! And the soldier loricaria 

 ( Loricaria callitttthys), a native of Surinam, is 

 described by Marcgrave, as not only making its 

 way over land to a deeper stream, when that 

 which it inhabits becomes too shallow, but even 

 sometimes burrowing under ground for the same 

 purpose ! We thus find fishes, at one time, crawling 

 over the ground like snails, and, at another, bur- 

 rowing under it like moles ; but what shall we say 

 to fishes climbing trees like the sloth, or even flying 

 through the air? There are few fishes, indeed, 

 * Abertus magnus. 



