8 LECTURE I. 



dry soil. After a heavy fall of rain, the garden 

 was filled by myriads of small frogs, which 

 must have descended from the clouds. 



After these remarks on the showers of fish, 

 I may tell you what is still more extraordinary 

 that some fish in Ceylon, in the dry season, 

 leave the pools when they contain but little 

 water, and can make their way through the 

 grass to other pools, going to them in one di- 

 rect line. Some fish, also in Guiana, have 

 been seen travelling overland during the dry 

 season, in search of their natural element, in 

 such droves that the negroes have filled their 

 baskets with them. Sir John Bo wring, in his 

 account of the embassy of the Siamese kings, 

 in 1855, states that in ascending and descending 

 the river Meinam he was amused with the 

 curious sight of fish leaving the river, gliding 

 over the wet grass, and losing themselves 

 amongst the trees of the jungle. Whilst tra- 

 velling on land, the fish have their gills open 

 or expanded. The class of fish which have 

 this power of moving on land have some of 

 their bones so disposed in plates and cells as 

 to retain a supply of moisture, which, while 

 crawling along, gradually exudes so as to keep 



