Chap. 83.] LAND TISHES, 47! 



CHAP. 83. (57.) LAND FISHES. 



Besides these, there are still some wonderful kinds of fishes 3 * 

 which we find mentioned by Theophrastus : he says, that when 

 the waters subside, which have been admitted for the purposes 

 of irrigation in the vicinitj 7 of Babylon, there are certain fish 

 which remain in such holes as may contain water ; from these 

 they come forth for the purpose of feeding, moving along with 

 their fins by the aid of a rapid movement of the tail. If pur- 

 sued, he says, they retreat to their holes, and, when they have 

 reached them, will turn round and make a stand. The head 

 is like that of the sea-frog, while the other parts are similar 

 to those of the gobio, 40 and they have gills like other fish. 

 He says also, that in the vicinity of Heraclea and Crom- 

 na, 41 and about the river Lycus, as well as in many parts 

 of the Euxine, there is one kind of fish 42 which frequents the 

 waters near the banks of the rivers, and makes holes for 

 itself, in which it lives, even when the water retires and the 

 bed of the river is dry ; for which reason these fishes have to 

 be dug out of the ground, and only show by the movement 

 of the body that they are still alive. He says also, that in the 

 vicinity of the same Heraclea, when the river Lycus ebbs, the 

 eggs are left in the mud, and that the fish, on being produced 

 from these, go forth to seek their food by means of a sort of 

 fluttering motion, their gills being but very small, in conse- 

 quence of which they are not in need of water ; for this 



39 Cuvier remarks, that nothing is known of the fish of the Euphrates 

 here mentioned by Pliny from Theophrastus ; as, indeed, all particulars re- 

 lative to the fresh- water fish of foreign countries are the portion of Ichthy- 

 ology with which we are the least acquainted. Judging, however, from 

 what is stated as to their habits and appearance, they may be various spe- 

 cies of the genus Gobius of Linnaeus, and more especially the one called 

 periophthalmus by Bloch. These species are in the habit of crawling 

 along the grass on the banks of rivers. 



40 Generally considered the same as our gudgeon. It is called " cobio" 

 (from the Greek /ew/3ioe), by Pliny, in B. xxxii. c. 53. It was a worthless 

 fish, " Vilis piscis," as Juvenal says. 



41 What Heraclea, if that is the correct reading, is meant here, it is 

 impossible to say. Cromna is mentioned in B. vi. c. 2. 



42 Cuvier thinks, that Pliny here alludes to a species of loche, the 

 Cobitis fossilis of Linnaous, which keeps itself concealed in the mud, and 

 can survive a long time in it, after the water above it is absorbed. Hence 

 it is often found alive in the mud of drained marshes, or in the dried-up 

 beds of rivers. 



