262 THE BARCA. 



The Gray Mullet deserves notice as being one of the most daring and ingenious of the 

 finny race, and is, in fact, a very fox for artfulness. The idea of constraint is most obnoxious 

 to it, and its instincts of freedom are so strongly developed that it endeavors to recover its 

 liberty in the most extraordinary ways. 



If, for example, it has been inclosed in a net, it will at once dart to the side and try to 

 leap over the head-rope into the open sea. Moreover, if one fish succeeds in the attempt, the 

 remainder immediately follow their leader, like a flock of sheep jumping over a hurdle. If 

 the net is raised so high that the leap is impracticable, the fish tries to creep under it ; and if 

 that mode of escape be cut off, it examines every mesh, in hopes of finding some defective 

 spot through which it may insinuate itself. Mr. Couch mentions that he has seen a Gray 

 Mullet, after trying all other modes of escape, deliberately retire to the greatest possible 

 distance from the wall of net, and then dash furiously at the meshes, as if to break 

 through them. 



The genus Mugil is very large, containing between sixty and seventy species. 



Mullets of the Florida waters are numerous. A novel method of taking them we wit- 

 nessed at Punta Rassa, on the Gulf coast. They are about eighteen inches in length, and 

 have very wide backs. The shoals are few in number. Negro boys took them in this 

 manner : common "grains," or spear, secured to a long handle by a line, the latter is held 

 upright in the palm, the line retained ; the pole is tossed upwards to return spear first 

 directly over the broad backs of the fishes, and, as a rule, it strikes home. 



THE fishes belonging to the family of the Ophiocephalidse, or snake-headed fishes, are 

 able to leave the water for a time and to crawl upon land, deriving their power from a curious 

 structure of the breathing organs. It has already been stated that a fish can breathe as long 

 as the delicate membranes of the gills are wet ; and that in those fishes which are able to live 

 out of water for any length of time, a peculiar modification of the breathing organs is 

 requisite in order to supply the needful moisture. In the family to which the climbing perch 

 belongs, a series of thin laminated plates are arranged in a cavity above the gills, thus retain- 

 ing a sufficient supply of water between the laminae. In the present genus, however, there 

 are none of these laminae, but the water is retained in a simple cavity which communicates 

 with the gills. 



Of this family the CORA-MOTA, or GACHFA (OpMocephalus ffocTiua), is a good ex- 

 ample. 



This fish is a native of the fresh waters of Eastern India and its archipelago, and in its 

 general shape and movements is so very snake-like that Europeans will seldom eat it. The 

 Cora-mota is common in the ponds and dykes of Bengal ; and is one of. the fish popularly sup- 

 posed to be rained from the clouds, as it is generally to be found on the grass after a heavy 

 shower. However this may be in other instances, it is tolerably clear that the Cora-mota has 

 been in concealment during the drought, and ventures into the fresh wet grass as a welcome 

 change from the muddy ditches in which it has been forced to reside. It can also find a plen- 

 tiful supply of food on the moist herbage ; and as on account of its peculiar formation it is 

 able to move on land with considerable ease, its migrations will often extend to considerable 

 distances. 



The Cora-mota is remarkably tenacious of life, and can survive the severest wounds for a 

 wonderfully long period. The natives of India take advantage of this peculiarity, and with 

 the disregard of inflicting torture that seems to be inherent in the Oriental mind, are in the 

 habit of selling the fish piecemeal, and cutting it up for sale while still living. Indeed, the 

 habitues of the market will not pay the best price if the fish does not flinch from the knife. 



The color of this species is brown crossed with several dark bars. Its length seldom 

 exceeds a foot. 



Another species of this genus, the BARCA (Ophiocephalus barca), is a much handsomer 

 fish, attains a considerable size, and is considered to be useful for the table. This fish is one 

 of the mud-lovers, living for the most part in holes excavated in the banks of Indian rivers, 

 and only putting out its head in search of prey. 



