THE EXISTING LUNGFISHES 



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face of the hind-limb is beset with tufts of tentacle-like papillae. This mudfish 

 grows to a length of about four feet, and occurs not only in the Amazon and its 

 tributaries, but likewise in the swamps of the Chako country forming the tributa- 

 ries of the upper Paraguay river. The southern form has been regarded as a distinct 

 species, although the differences are so slight as scarcely to merit such a distinction. 

 These fish feed chiefly on the large mollusks known as ampullariae, which are found 

 collected in great masses in the Chako swamps; their shells being easily crushed by 

 the powerful teeth of their devourers. 



AFRICAN MUDFISH. 

 (One-third natural size.) 



The African mudfish (Protopterus annectans), widely spread over 

 African ,, . , .. , . . , . , . . 



Mudfish tropical regions of the continent from which it takes its name, dif- 



fers from the last in that the filamentous fins retain a small fringe 

 containing rays; as well as in having six gill arches, with five intervening clefts, 

 while there are three small tentacle-like appendages above the small gill opening 

 on each side. In the Gambia river, where they are very abundant, these fishes 

 are in the habit of burying themselves during the dry season, making a kind of 

 nest, in which they pass a period of torpidity. Here they may remain for the 



